


The Origin of Sin

by Solitude_Rising



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Abandonment, Abuse, Alien Cult, Amoral Entrapta, Angst, Autistic Entrapta (She-Ra), Emotional Hurt, Emotional Manipulation, Entrapta Origins, F/M, Feelings, Memory Loss, Past, Post-Season 4, References to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Revelations, Romance, Season 5 take, True Love, alternate season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 90,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22961734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solitude_Rising/pseuds/Solitude_Rising
Summary: Horde Prime looms over Etheria. Entrapta is back with the princesses at Bright Moon, trying to move on from her past with Hordak. As what remains of the Rebellion face the new Horde threat, the Princess of Dryl's role in the story is yet to be fully revealed.Continuing on from my 'Addendum' series, this is an Entrapta and Hordak-focused alternate take on Season 5.
Relationships: Entrapta & Hordak (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 245
Kudos: 251





	1. Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, readers! Welcome back to those have been following my last fic series **'Addendum'** and a warm welcome to new readers who are just joining me for the first time too! I'm excited to be posting this new personal take on Season 5 of the show and hope to convince all of you to stick around for later chapters! I've got some pretty radical ideas planned for this fic!
> 
> As with my previous works, this one's Entrapta and Hordak-centred, but other characters will have their moments to shine as well. What can I say? I'm a die-hard Entrapdak shipper! But I'm also delving deeper into Entrapta's character and mind in this fic too, and I'll be unravelling a big theory I've developed about her in future chapters (which I've touched on in my 'Addendum' fic already).
> 
> There's going to be quite a bit of angst and emotional hurt, just to warn you all, and some major revelations in chapters to come that I hope most of you will appreciate.
> 
> So, fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride! Here goes...

She gazed up into an abyss. On her back she lay, arms and legs apart, tangled in strands of her own long lilac hair. A dark canopy of wild, overgrown trees spread above her like a black ceiling, blotting out the sky. Within the darkness, hundreds of red eyes blinked down at her. She was on Beast Island again, laying prone on the ground, blue and pink First Ones’ crystals glowing around her. Long black vines were sliding over her body, encircling her arms, legs, waist, neck...Desolation and loneliness seeped back into her heart, breaking her resolve and will to live. With a sigh, she gave in and closed her eyes, waiting for oblivion to take her.

“Entrapta!”

The call of her name caused her eyes to open slowly again. She rolled her head to the side and saw two figures coming toward her. They were blurred at first, but then became clearer. It was Adora and Bow. Adora was calling out to her:

“Entrapta, we’re here to save you!”

She stared at them through heavy, listless eye lids. “Leave me…,” she uttered, eyes threatening to close again.

“Entrapta, fight it, please!” Bow shouted.

Her eyes fell shut again. “Everyone leaves me behind…”

“Entrapta…”

Another male voice…one she would recognise anywhere…But it couldn’t be…Her eyes flew open again. She turned her head to her other side toward the voice.

And there he was, striding toward her like a knight in shining armour. Tall, dark and imperfect as she remembered him. Pure-white face standing out in the light of the island’s crystals; long, sharp ears erect; intense crimson eyes burning; loose strands of midnight blue hair falling over his forehead; his body gleaming in the dark armour she had made for him; and beneath his neck, the First Ones’ crystal she had given him embedded in his collar, glowing steadily and gently. Her lab partner, her…friend. He was here at last. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“Hordak…,” she murmured, smiling faintly. “You’re here…”

He knelt before her. “Where else would I be?” His voice was deep, unusually tender, warm. “My place is here…with you.”

He held his hand out to her. “Come back to me.”

She lifted a vine-wrapped arm, reaching back for him.

“Entrapta, please!”

It was Bow’s voice. She stopped and looked back to see Adora and Bow calling to her again. 

“Entrapta, stay with us,” Bow pleaded.

“You belong with the princesses,” Adora shouted.

She stared at them uncertainly, then looked back to Hordak. His hand was still held out to her.

“I need you,” he said quietly, imploringly. “We have so much to do and see…together.”

Her hesitation dissipated and she reached for his fingers again, snapping the vines from her arm. He took hold of her hand immediately and pulled her up toward him with ease. The black vines fell from her body as he brought her into him. She reached up with both arms and wrapped them around his neck, a joyful smile spreading across her face. The smile was contagious as she watched it spreading upwards on his lips as well. Vaguely, she was aware of Adora and Bow still shouting to her:

“Entrapta!”

Their cries seemed to fade though as she pressed herself against Hordak’s body with a blissful sigh. “Yes…together,” she whispered.

She felt Hordak embrace her with both arms and rest his cheek against the top of her head. Her heart pounded within her chest. Her long lilac hair wrapped around them both, cocooning them together. The light of the First Ones’ crystal in Hordak’s collar spilled forth between their joined bodies, illuminating their necks and lower faces in an ethereal glow. A tear streamed down her cheek. How she had waited, longed for this moment, for this reunion. They breathed one another in as their bodies melded into one.

The world fell away. Nothing else mattered. In the darkness, haloed only by the light of the crystal between them, they stood cradled in one another’s arms, faces pressed against each other. Entrapta’s fingers slid up Hordak’s chest to the crystal in his collar, touching it, feeling its energy radiating.

Then his clawed finger touched her chin lightly and lifted her face up towards his. His glowing crimson eyes met her vibrant magenta ones. Time halted as they looked deeply into one another’s souls. Almost of their own accord, her eyes fell upon his thin black lips, suddenly focused on their parting and the heavy breaths passing in and out through them. She felt her lips opening and her breaths growing heavier too. Why did she suddenly feel compelled to close the gap between their mouths?

The moment was interrupted by a bright flash of light coming from behind Hordak. Entrapta’s attention was drawn from Hordak’s lips to a source of light that had appeared suddenly in the air above them. They pulled apart to watch it expanding, forming a large circle of swirling reddish-pink energy. It was a portal opening before them, its blinding light washing over them as it grew in size. Through the hole of the portal, Entrapta glimpsed stars in the black void of Space. She watched in wide-eyed wonder.

Hordak took hold of her hands in his and rose to his feet. “Come, it is time for us to go.”

She looked back up at him. “Go where?” she asked breathlessly.

“Home,” he replied with the smallest of smiles.

He turned to the portal again and Entrapta followed his gaze. Floating in front of the portal now, she saw a small, circular object: an oval gem, reddish-pink cerise-coloured, radiating energy, inscribed with First Ones’ symbols.

_“Come home.”_

An echoing male voice, scratchy and nasally, seemed to resonate from the oval gem. It pulsed with a cerise reddish-pink energy.

Surprised, Entrapta backed up and pressed herself into Hordak again. Large hands came to rest over her shoulders comfortingly from behind.

_“Do not fear, my Princess.”_

She froze. It was not Hordak’s voice. It was the scratchy and nasally male voice, right next to her now. She turned slowly to see a tall hooded figure enveloped in a long, dark purple cloak standing before her. She looked up into the shadowed hood of the figure. Two blood-red eyes opened to look down at her. A thin, bony-fingered hand, tanned-skinned, touched her cheek.

_“I am with you, **eternally**.”_

Her eyes flew open. Entrapta sat up suddenly, breathing heavily and clutching a soft quilt to her chest. She scanned her surroundings quickly. She was in a bed, in a guestroom, in Bright Moon, alone. Not on Beast Island. Not with Hordak…Her hand slipped into a pocket in her pyjamas, feeling for his First Ones’ crystal, the one she had recovered from the ruins of the Fright Zone. She felt it still there, where she had left it last the night before. Satisfied, she removed her hand from her pocket.

With a shuddering breath, she pushed aside damp strands of her lilac hair clinging to her face and laid a hand over her forehead, letting it slide down over her eyes and cheek. She then removed the hand and inspected it for evidence of increased perspiration. With a strand of loose, untied hair, she reached for her recording device from a bedside table, bringing it to her lips. She drew her knees up into her chest as she began speaking into her recorder.

“Dream Diary Entry #3: I had the dream again, the portal dream involving Adora, Bow,…Hordak and an unknown cloaked man. It’s the third instance I’ve experienced this dream since arriving in Bright Moon. This frequency suggests a persistent or recurrent issue is troubling me. Curious. Perhaps my subconscious mind is dealing with some deep-seated issue, or trying to communicate a message of importance to me. What that issue or message may be, I cannot guess at this point. But this makes for fascinating data into the subconscious experience.”

She stopped her recording with the click of a button. A small weight sunk into the bed beside her. She turned her head to see the winged clone child of Hordak, Imp, landing next to her, having flown down. Crawling closer, he peered up at her with his little yellow eyes, curious, concerned.

“I’m fine, Imp,” she said reassuringly.

She reached down and scratched him lightly on the head. He purred contentedly. When she removed her fingers, he looked up at her again seriously. His small mouth opened and a recording of her own voice re-played:

“Hordak…Hordak…Hordak…”

Imp must have recorded her during her sleep. The way she moaned his name could not have been from her conscious verbalisations. Entrapta could not stop the blush blooming across her cheeks. Why did she have to sound so…needy? She quickly tried to silence Imp by hastily putting a finger to her lips and shushing him.

“Shhh! Please don’t play that when anyone else is around! Okay? It could get us both in trouble!”

Imp shut his mouth and pouted. Entrapta looked down at him sadly and rubbed under his small chin by way of an apology. She couldn’t blame the little clone for missing his master really. She did too, though she would not openly admit it. Hordak was gone, back with his brother, Horde Prime, now. Catra was his new partner, so she had heard from Scorpia. He’d left them both. She had to move on. She told herself this. But, in unguarded moments, her thoughts kept drifting back to him, and her fingers kept slipping back into her pocket, holding the First Ones’ crystal she had given him…

She brought her gaze up to a long mirror standing facing the end of her bed. Looking at her reflection for a moment, she took in her messy, loose hair and her heavy expression. She attempted to smile a little, but her lips quickly descended again. It felt forced, unnatural now, but she would have to smile when she met with the other princesses again. The emotional mask would have to come up again. It was tiring. She sighed.

Her hand returned into her pyjama pocket and retrieved the First Ones’ crystal. Holding it in her hand, she looked down at it thoughtfully. The crystal’s gentle pink aura haloed her face as she ran her thumb over the First Ones’ sigils tenderly.

_“Entrapta…”_

She shut her eyes for a moment. Even now, it was like she could still hear his voice echoing from it…Her eyes opened again.

“You want to know something interesting about this First Ones’ crystal?” she asked Imp suddenly, gaze still fixed on the crystal in her grasp.

The little winged clone child, still sat at her side, looked up at her inquisitively.

“But you have to keep it a secret,” Entrapta insisted. “I don’t tell everyone this.”

Imp nodded eagerly. He could be discreet. He had always been reliable to master. He would be for mistress too.

“This crystal was a gift from my parents,” Entrapta revealed quietly, holding the crystal up in front of them with her hair. “I’ve had it since I was little. It’s the reason I started studying First Ones’ language, so I could read the sigils on it. Can you guess what it says?”

Imp shook his head, looking up at his mistress with wide-eyed curiosity.

“Loved,” she uttered. “It says: ‘L.U.V.D.’, ‘loved’.” She smiled now at Imp. “Isn’t that neat?”

Imp looked at the crystal in wonder, then back up at his mistress. He opened his small mouth and replayed what she had just said: “Loved”.

Entrapta patted his head with a hair tip. “It was a stable power source for…Hordak’s armour, but…it also had…sentimental value…”

A distant look entered Entrapta’s eyes as she seemed to sink into recollection.

A sudden knock on the bedroom door snapped her out of her daze. Imp grumbled a little and glared at the door for the interruption. Quickly, Entrapta re-pocketed the crystal.

The door opened slightly and Scorpia’s head poked through.

“Entrapta?” the scorpion princess called. “You awake? Sorry, I know you like to sleep in, but Bow sent me to tell you that the Sorcerers Guild and other princesses are all here and will be gathering in the War Room soon.”

Entrapta sat up straight immediately. “Right! I’ll get ready and be down pronto!” she called back.

The princess of Dryl hurriedly threw aside her quilt and pushed herself off the bed and onto tentacles of her sprawling hair. Thoughts of her First Ones’ crystal and former lab partner were shoved back into the recesses of her chaotic mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Puck from the 90s Disney show 'Gargoyles' once said: "Was it dream? Or a prophecy?"
> 
> And yep, Entrapta's First Ones' crystal is now a sentimental item.
> 
> As always, I appreciate any feedback!


	2. War Council

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Princesses and Sorcerers' Guild have gathered at Bright Moon to discuss a plan of action in the wake of Horde Prime's arrival on Etheria, Micah and Entrapta are reunited with their remaining family and friends, and Entrapta has an admirer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the kudos and comments on the first chapter, all! Much appreciated!

Micah looked down at himself. He felt like a young boy receiving his first sorcerer’s garments again as he marvelled at the new fabrics he now found himself draped in. He rubbed his hand over his chest, feeling the soft silk covering him. After an indeterminate amount of time living rough on Beast Island, it felt strange to be wearing such fine Bright Moon garments again.

On the table before him, a tray of small edibles was laid down by a Bright Moon servant. He stared at it: bite-sized pastries, cakes and berries in cups. Food, real food! He hadn’t seen such luxuries in so long. He had almost forgotten the taste of such things. His mouth began to water and he eagerly reached for a handful of snacks. In an undignified manner, he rapidly stuffed them into his mouth and barely chewed before swallowing the delicacies.

“Would you like more food brought in, Brother?”

Micah snapped his attention to the source of the voice beside him, mouth still full. His sister, Castaspella, was looking at him.

“You seem famished,” she observed with a smile.

Much had changed in Bright Moon during his absence, but at least she was very much as he remembered her, still highly attentive and eager to dote on others at times, especially her family. Being viewed as the perfect hostess had always been important to her.

“No, this is fine, Sister,” he quickly responded. “It’s just…been a while since I last ate such things.” He returned her smile and she reached for his hand, squeezing it affectionately. He squeezed back and her eyes became watery for a moment.

Releasing one another’s hands, Micah brought his attention back to the table ahead of him. They were seated at the large round table in Bright Moon’s War Room, joined by an assembled gathering of princesses, sorcerers and allies. The people in the room were talking quietly amongst themselves, serious expressions on their faces indicating the nature of their conversations and thoughts. On occasion, he would catch the amazed glances of people, some he recalled and others he did not, looking in his direction. The unexpected return of King Micah had, understandably, shocked everyone. He would nod politely when meeting anyone’s eyes, the conduct of his role as king slowly, but naturally returning to him.

The gathering quietened when Adora, on his other side, rose from her seat.

“Welcome to Bright Moon, everyone,” she began. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. As you know, we are in a dire situation. Horde Prime has arrived on Etheria and-”

Adora was interrupted mid-speech by the doors to the War Room swinging open, revealing a frantic and out-of-breath Entrapta. She had thrown the doors open with her hair tails. The audience in the War Room stared.

“Sorry, I’m late! I got lost in the palace gardens, then the throne room before eventually finding my way here!” The words tumbled out of Entrapta’s mouth. “Did I miss anything? Oh, is that tiny food you’ve got there! Perfect! Sorry, how rude of me! I should greet people first! I’m very interested to collect social data on a rare gathering such as this! I’ve never observed princesses and sorcerers all gathered together in one room before!”

Eyes blinked around the room.

“It’s fine, Entrapta,” Adora reassured with a forced laugh. “You’re just on time. Glad you could join us.”

Before the tech princess could make her way over to the assembled audience at the large round table, she was swarmed by the other princesses and Sea Hawk who came rushing at her.

“Entrapta! We’re so happy to see you again!” Perfuma said emotionally, clasping her hands together.

“Princess Entrapta, it is a MIRACLE!” Seahawk cried, grabbing both her shoulders enthusiastically and causing the tech princess to squirm momentarily in discomfort before he released her.

“Hi, I remember you from the Princess Ball! Was Beast Island scary?” Frosta fisted her small hands excitedly.

“Glad to have you back with us, Geek Princess.” Mermista wiped her eyes as she said this.

Entrapta, overwhelmed by the combined and intense attention, shrank back slightly and laughed nervously. “Umm, thanks…glad we’re all still friends…”

“Of course we are, silly!” Perfuma exclaimed.

“You’re one of us. And we’re never leaving you behind again,” Mermista stated firmly.

“Oh, I…didn’t realise you all felt that way…” Entrapta twiddled her fingers nervously.

“C’mon, we saved you a place next to Bow and Scorpia.” Frosta pointed to an empty chair space between Bow and Scorpia.

Bow stood up immediately and went to Entrapta’s side. He held out a hand to her.

“May I assist you?” he asked courteously.

Entrapta let out a nervous laugh, but placed a hair tail in Bow’s waiting hand. He proceeded to lead her to her seat next to him.

“Awww…,” Scorpia sighed, watching the two of them with her head leaning on a pincer.

Entrapta was blushing as Bow led her to take a seat before sitting down himself, smiling warmly at her. She looked away from his large eyes instinctively, feeling guilty all of a sudden, and refocused her attention on the tiny snacks laid out on the table before her. She reached with a strand of hair to pick up a bite-sized custard-filled tart and popped it into her mouth.

Adora audibly cleared her throat and continued. “As I was saying, Horde Prime is here with his armies, and Glimmer is his captive. We need to find a way to rescue her and stop Horde Prime from taking over Etheria. We know that he is the real head of the Horde Empire and conquers worlds. We **can’t** let him have Etheria!”

“But how‘re we gonna stop him?” It was Netossa speaking up. “There are Horde ships everywhere!”

Adora paused in thought for a moment before speaking. “We’ll need a plan. The fact that the Horde has yet to make any move against the planet likely means that Horde Prime is waiting for something. That means we may have some time to play with.”

Eyes shifted to one another around the table uncertainly.

“We’re not helpless,” Adora stated firmly. “With the Sorcerer’s Guild and Princesses working together, we can defend Etheria from the Horde. We have allies from various territories that we previously liberated from the Horde, er…the Etherian Horde that is, that we can call upon for help. And we’ve brought back King Micah and Princess Entrapta from Beast Island, alive and well.”

She gestured to Micah, who nodded, and Entrapta, who was munching obliviously on tiny snacks.

“With their help, we have a fighting chance against the Horde.” Adora’s face hardened with determination. “If we all work together, we can save Etheria.”

“That’s great and all, Adora,” Mermista remarked, “but even with all the Princesses’ and Sorcerers’ powers, the odds aren’t exactly in our favour. We can’t fight the whole of the Horde army flying over our heads.”

“We can’t win in a battle against the Horde forces,” Adora agreed. “We need to find the flagship, where Horde Prime is likely to be. We can target that. And we need whatever weapons and firepower we can get.” She paused, her expression turning troubled. “Unfortunately, I’m at a disadvantage. When the Heart of Etheria was activated, and our planet pulled out of the dimension of Despondos, my sword was broken. She-Ra is gone.”

Gasps and worried glances filled the room. The gathered audience exchanged concerned looks and words.

“But there might be a way to fix that!” Heads turned in the direction of the loud voice. It was Entrapta.

“Fix what? The sword?” Frosta asked.

“Yes!” Entrapta answered. “I mean maybe!”

“How?” Bow asked, surprised. “You said you couldn’t fix the sword.”

“I can’t!” Entrapta confirmed. “But maybe, the place that it came from **can**!”

The Princesses and their friends looked at one another then back at Entrapta.

“I’m afraid you may have lost us,” Seahawk said.

“She-Ra’s sword is First Ones’ tech!” Entrapta exclaimed, as if her logic should have been obvious. “It was made by the First Ones! We just need to go to where the First Ones’ came from and get them to fix the sword for us!”

The looks that Entrapta was receiving at that point should have told her that the sanity of her proposal was doubted by her audience, but she remained ignorant of this, grinning widely in excitement instead.

“Easy as that, huh?” Mermista said sarcastically.

“Yes! Simple!” Entrapta replied, sarcasm passing over her head.

“And, umm, how exactly are we going to find, let alone get to, where the First One’s came from?” Adora asked doubtfully.

“There’s probably a lead on Beast Island!” Shocked faces stared back at Entrapta as she said this.

“Entrapta, you can’t go back to Beast Island!” Scorpia protested. “It’s too dangerous!”

“And even if we did go back, how are we going to locate where the First Ones came from and where She-Ra’s sword was made?” Bow questioned.

“If I could search the First Ones’ archives on the island, I believe I could locate the location of the First Ones’ home world, and where the sword was forged!” Entrapta had raised herself up on her hair tails now as she spoke. “And then we’d be able to travel there! Now that Etheria is out of Despondos and in the wider universe, interplanetary travel through portals is possible…theoretically!” She pressed her hands together in anticipation.

“I don’t know,” Castaspella said doubtfully from beside her brother Micah. “First Ones’ home world, finding where the sword was made, interplanetary travel, it all sounds…impossible!”

“Anymore impossible than Etheria being a giant First Ones’ weapon, the planet been transported out of a shadow dimension and stars appearing suddenly in our skies?” Entrapta responded.

“Point taken,” Castaspella said flatly.

Adora looked down at the table in thought for a moment. “It’s probably the best option we have now,” she finally said. “Without the sword and She-Ra, we don’t have much of a fighting chance against Horde Prime. Alright, I’ll go back to Beast Island with Bow and Entrapta again. The rest of you will remain here in Bright Moon to defend it if need be.”

“I should go with you,” Micah stated. “I know Beast Island better than anyone.”

“But Micah, you just got back!” Castaspella exclaimed, dismayed. “We need you!”

Adora shook her head. “No, Your Majesty. I agree with Castaspella. I think it would be better for you to stay here with the Sorcerers’ Guild to protect Bright Moon. You’re needed here. The Kingdom’s already lost two queens. It can’t lose a king as well.”

Micah shut his eyes and nodded. “You’re right.”

“Besides, we’ll have Entrapta to be our guide,” Adora reasoned, looking briefly at the tech princess on the other side of the table, where she was now babbling almost to herself about finding out where the First Ones came from. Scorpia and Bow, on either side of her, were just smiling and nodding at her. Adora looked back at Micah. “She’ll know exactly where to look for First Ones’ tech that can help us.”

Micah glanced over at the tech princess dubiously as she suddenly let out a cackle. “Are you sure she can be fully trusted?” he asked in a hushed voice, leaning closer to Adora. “You said she was with the Horde for a while before. Can you be certain of her loyalty?”

“Entrapta’s a princess like us,” Adora replied firmly. “She’s a little…eccentric and different, but she’s not a bad person. She’s the smartest person we know in fact. And we let her down before when we left her behind in the Fright Zone. We owe it to her to give her a chance. She needs us to be her friends. And we need her help. We need her on our side now.”

Micah glanced at Entrapta from the corner of his eye again. “Don’t get me wrong, she seems nice enough,” he replied carefully. “She might not be a bad person as you say, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s a good person either.” He sighed. “Just be careful, Adora. Make sure you know what you’re getting into with her. She seems…unpredictable.”

Adora frowned, but nodded. “Thank you for the caution, King Micah. I’ll…bear it in mind.”

Mermista spoke up. “So, how long do you think we’ll have to handle things here whilst you three go back to Beast Island?”

“I can’t say, Mermista,” Adora replied. “We’ll be back as soon as we can, I promise. Until then, we’re relying on you all to protect Bright Moon and the other Kingdoms from the Horde as best as you can.”

“Sure, no big,” Mermista quipped sarcastically, folding her arms. “Just, like, don’t get lost on that island.”

Adora nodded at her then looked at the rest of the gathering again. “We’ll leave as soon as we can. We’ll find what we need on Beast Island and be back to help you all save Etheria.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, it's challenging writing a chapter with so many characters in one room!
> 
> Next chapter, we'll be checking in on the Horde mothership.


	3. The Enemy of My Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped together on the Horde mothership, Glimmer and Catra are forced to take drastic measures to survive whilst learning the full extent of Horde Prime's power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, back to to the adventures of the sparkly princess and cat lady trapped in a giant speaceship somewhere over their homeworld, contending with an alien emperor with a god complex.
> 
> Thanks so much for the comments and kudos once again all! It's always nice to hear that readers appreciate what I've written and good to know what they liked about it.

The Horde mothership could have been the size of a small planet. It seemed vast enough, with enough levels to house a small population. Here was where the Horde, the true Horde, originated, and where their emperor, Horde Prime, resided. It was his fortress amongst the stars, his kingdom in Space.

Glimmer and Catra had found themselves overwhelmed by the enormity of it as they were escorted to a ‘guest room’ by one of Horde Prime’s clones, green-eyed and blank-faced. The room, it turned out, could have been the size of the throne room back in Bright Moon. It was excessively wide and cavernous with adjoining wash and bed rooms and areas for changing and relaxation. It would have been the height of luxury were it not for the bland white walls and their nauseating combination with neon green decorative highlights, Horde Prime’s signature colours.

The clone escort bowed courteously to Catra and Glimmer before leaving them in their new lavish surroundings. But even after hearing him exit through the tall doors, the two women remained rooted to their spots, unmoving, their eyes scanning the large room nervously.

“Do you…think he’s watching us?” Glimmer whispered just loud enough for Catra to hear.

“I’m not seeing any signs of surveillance,” Catra responded, sharp eyes still surveying all corners of the ceiling. “If Horde Prime’s technology is anything like the Fright Zone’s, then I think we can safely assume that we’re not being directly monitored here.”

Glimmer audibly exhaled and her shoulders slumped slightly as she allowed herself to relax a little. She then looked at Catra, casting a hard glare at her.

“So, what was your plan after offering up our world as a weapon to Horde Prime?” Glimmer asked coolly.

Catra looked back at her, face expressionless. “I hadn’t got that far yet.”

Glimmer groaned and began to pace. “Great, so we’re stuck together on Horde Prime’s mothership without a plan and giving up Etheria to him. Great work, Catra. You’ve doomed us all.”

Catra’s eyes narrowed and her voice dropped to a hard tone. “Maybe you didn’t notice, Sparkles, but Horde Prime was going to wipe Etheria off the face of the universe if I hadn’t stepped in and given him a reason not to. Plus, I saved your life. You’re welcome.”

“That’s ‘Queen Glimmer’ to you!” Glimmer snapped irritably. “And…” She sighed. “…thank you…for saving me. But if Horde Prime gets his hands on the Heart of Etheria, it’ll destroy our world and others too.” She crossed her arms. “It’s not much better a situation to be in.”

Catra paused in thought for a moment before responding. “I’ve bought us some time at least.”

“For what?” Glimmer scoffed. “We’re on our own up here, powerless and with no way of getting help.”

Catra looked at her again. “Then we’ll just have to make do with what we’ve got. We’re going to have to work together.”

“Work with you?” Glimmer said incredulously. “Hah! I trust you about as far as I can throw you! For all I know, you’ll sell us out to Horde Prime just to save your own skin!”

“You got any better ideas, ‘Sparkles’?” Catra growled, emphasising her nickname for Glimmer.

Glimmer clenched her hands into fists at her sides, glaring hard at Catra. “This is what you wanted all along, isn’t it?” she accused, pointing at the feline woman. “To bring Horde Prime to Etheria and help the Horde conquer it! Well, you’ve finally got it! He’s here now and his armies are occupying our planet! Congratulations! You win!”

Catra hissed at the Bright Moon queen. “ **I’m** not the one who brought him here!” she shot back. “Whose fault exactly was it that Horde Prime even found Etheria, huh? Who wanted to use the Heart of Etheria to destroy the Horde? Who activated it and nearly destroyed our world? Who caused the whole planet to be transported into the wider universe where Horde Prime found it?”

An expression of shock came over Glimmer’s face as Catra’s accusations hit her.

“Face it, Sparkles!” Catra hissed. “You’re just as guilty as me in this! And whether we like it or not, we’re stuck here together on Horde Prime’s mothership, powerless, defenceless, alone! I don’t really care if you trust me or not! But if you want to survive this and save Etheria, we have to work together! All we’ve got is each other now! Deal with it!”

Glimmer looked away from Catra for a moment, squeezing her eyes shut, then returned her gaze to her, expression stern. “Guess I don’t have much of a choice,” she relented. “Never thought I’d be saying this to you of all people, but…” She held out her hand to Catra. “Partners?”

Catra glanced down at Glimmer’s offered hand before taking it. “Partners,” she responded flatly.

“So, what do we do now?” Glimmer asked.

Catra folded her arms and brought her hand up to her chin in thought. “Horde Prime’s going to want to learn how to use the Heart of Etheria. We need to stall him for as long as we can until we can find a way to stop him.”

“I don’t suppose we’ll be getting any help from your old boss,” Glimmer commented, “seen as he’s…been taken out of the picture now.” She frowned and looked at the floor. “What do you think happened to him?”

Catra turned her head to her and raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t figure you’d care what happened to Hordak.”

“I’d have happily seen him rotting in a jail after what he did to Etheria,” Glimmer quickly responded, “but what Horde Prime did to him…reading his thoughts then…mind-wiping him, or whatever it was,…it was pretty…shocking…Didn’t you think so?”

Catra turned her back to Glimmer. “Hordak was an idiot. He wasn’t really running the Horde anymore. All he cared about was getting back to his big brother and…” She stopped. Her ears flicked anxiously. “Well, he got what he deserved. Horde Prime can rip him to shreds for all I care.”

Glimmer opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at their doors. They opened to reveal the clone that had escorted them earlier, or perhaps it was a different one? It was hard to tell. They all looked so similar with the same disconcertingly blank, neon green eyes.

“The Emperor requests your presence for dinner,” he announced.

Horde Prime was lounging on a cushioned throne standing atop a raised platform when Glimmer and Catra were brought before him. They were led into what resembled a long dining room with a long white table stretching through the length of the room. Two chairs and two places were set at the end of the table closest to Horde Prime. They were glancing at the table as their escort left them with a low bow.

“My fair ladies, welcome,” Horde Prime declared, snapping the womens’ attention to him as he rose to his feet and bowed to them in an exaggerated display. “Please do join me. It is a pleasure to host you aboard my flagship. I do not receive guests often, so this is a special occasion.”

Two clones appeared from beside Glimmer and Catra and went to pull out the chairs from the table. When the chairs were out, they waited patiently behind them. The two women looked at the chairs and clones hesitantly.

“Sit,” Prime instructed.

Glimmer and Catra did as they were told and plopped themselves down into the chairs on opposite sides of the table. The clones pushed them into the table at the same time and walked away.

“I hope you will enjoy the treats my attendants have prepared,” Prime stated leisurely.

The clones returned holding silver trays covered by domed lids. They brought the trays next to the two women and lifted the lids in perfect timing. Silently, Glimmer and Catra stared down at plates of pale red paste set in blocks placed before them on the table.

“What is this?” Glimmer asked cautiously.

“Something you will enjoy,” Prime replied simply. “Now, eat.”

Glimmer and Catra looked up at one another then down at their food. They gingerly picked up silver forks from the table and tucked into their pale red paste blocks, cautiously lifting small chunks to their mouths. They chewed their food slowly before swallowing. Their eyes widened in surprise.

“This isn’t…bad,” Catra remarked.

Prime smirked. “I told you that you would enjoy it.”

“But what is it made from?” Glimmer tried asking again.

A smile spread across Prime’s lips. “The distilled blood of Kowls, a rare flying creature that we captured and examined from one of our conquered planets. Apparently, they exist as an endangered species on your world too. You are enjoying quite a rare delicacy.”

Glimmer and Catra stopped chewing abruptly as a sickly expression came over their faces.

Prime watched them intently, smile unwavering. “My attendants spent some time extracting the blood from our few Kowl specimens to prepare this meal specially for you. I do hope it pleases you.”

Glimmer and Catra slowly began chewing again.

“I am eager to hear more about the planetary weapon you mentioned before,” he continued. “What is the nature of it? How does it work?”

Glimmer and Catra glanced up at each other. Catra nodded subtly to Glimmer. There was a pause before Glimmer cleared her throat and spoke:

“It’s called the Heart of Etheria. It’s an ancient weapon created by the first ones to settle on our world centuries ago. It’s all the magic of Etheria channelled into the core of the planet, creating a massive source of power.”

Prime leaned forward. “Go on.”

“It’s been dormant ever since the First Ones left Etheria long ago. But it was recently reactivated when the planet was re-balanced. It’s how Etheria was pulled out of the shadow dimension.”

“Re-balanced, how so?” All four of Prime’s neon green eyes focused on the Bright Moon queen now.

Glimmer suppressed the instinct to shiver. “When all the princesses were connected with their Runestones.”

“Princesses,” he repeated thoughtfully, “how many are a part of this…Heart of Etheria?”

Glimmer delayed her response, thinking, _“Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Scorpia, myself and Adora. Six.”_

“Five of us,” she finally answered. “But reactivating the Heart of Etheria is dangerous. It could have destroyed our world and others if it had been fully set off.”

Prime brought his fingers together before his lips in thought, looking ahead. “An untapped source of power capable of transporting entire worlds and destroying them.” His lips rose in a smile. “Yes, I think your little planet is going to be of great value to me.” His four neon green eyes returned to Glimmer. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I look forward to your cooperation in obtaining the Heart of Etheria. Rest assured, it shall be the crowning jewel of my empire.”

“So, are you going to…take over our world?” Glimmer asked hesitantly.

An amused expression came over Prime's face. “Take over?” He chuckled lightly. “Dear child, do not mistake me for my crass Little Brother. I do not ‘take over’ worlds.” His smile grew wider. “I **control** them.”

He suddenly rose to his feet and descended from his platform, approaching Glimmer and Catra. His large frame overshadowed them and his voice dropped to an unsettling depth:

“My armies occupy every corner of your planet’s airspace and surface. There is no resistance, no fight, no challenge to my supremacy. Etheria is **already** mine.”

The two women stared at him, paralysed, gripping the armrests of their chairs. Glimmer swallowed hard. Catra’s ears twitched.

Prime folded his arms behind his back and strolled behind Glimmer’s chair. “Unlike my Little Brother,” he continued in a softer tone, “I do not engage in mindless violence and destruction. His poor attempts at conquering your world were inelegant and clumsy.”

Coming to stand behind Glimmer’s chair, he bent forward and spoke next to her ear. “He made a dreadful mess, did he not? Left your kingdoms in ruins and your people fearful. I can only offer my humblest apologies for his thoughtless and embarrassing actions again. But I assure you that he is being properly dealt with now.” He straightened again and began walking away to Glimmer’s relief.

“Dealt with?” Catra asked curiously.

Prime stopped and looked back at her and Glimmer, a wicked smile spreading across his lips. “Would you like to see?”

The glass elevator they were standing in travelled down several levels. Glimmer and Catra remained silent, listening as Prime spoke in mannered and elegant tones:

“I’m afraid my Little Brother was always…heavy-handed in his approach. You see, he served as my general before, conquering worlds for the Horde empire. He never quite learnt the subtleties of control and domination.”

The elevator’s descent ended and its doors opened. Glimmer and Catra followed Prime out into a long, curving white corridor.

“Sadly, in addition to his ‘brutish’ nature, he was also physically defective. I had to discard him. But, somehow, he ended up on Etheria and survived this long. It seems been stranded on your world for a prolonged period worsened his deterioration. He has become mentally as well as physically unstable. Evidently, he started to act and think independently.”

“And…that’s a bad thing?” Glimmer asked cautiously.

Prime stopped before a set of doors and looked back sharply at the two women. His voice dropped to a disapproving tone. “My clones are not meant to be independent. They are meant to serve only one will: mine.”

He pressed his palm to a scanning pad beside the doors and they opened. “So, he is being reconditioned and brought under control again.”

They entered a long white hall. The gleaming whiteness of the hall was almost blinding. Along both sides of the hall, numerous large tanks were lined. In the tanks floated the bodies of dormant clones in green fluid.

“What exactly is…‘reconditioning’?” Catra asked tensely, glancing nervously at the floating clone bodies in the tanks they passed.

“An overhaul. A full restoration to a clone’s original state,” Prime casually explained. “Once my Little Brother’s reconditioning is complete, he will be returned to full functionality and will retain no compromising memory of Etheria. He will be completely loyal to me again.”

Glimmer and Catra glanced grimly at one another from the corners of their eyes.

Prime paused and tuned to face them again. “Perhaps you may find this shocking, but you must understand, peace and order cannot exist in a diverse population of free-thinking individuals. This belief is a fiction. It is only through the removal of independent minds and wills that I have been able to spread peace and order throughout the universe. The only way utopia can be achieved…is through the total subjugation of all life on all worlds.”

A mixture of horror and fear filled Glimmer and Catra’s faces as Prime turned back and began walking again, approaching another set of doors.

His tone became condescending. “My Little Brother failed to conquer all of Etheria because of one fatal error on his part: he lacked control. His defects forced him to cede control to others, to trust others to enact his orders. He failed to exert full dominance over his ‘imitation’ of the Horde on Etheria. He simply led it through ineffective functionality and fear. He did not go far enough.”

Prime stopped before the second set of doors and pressed his palm to another scanning pad, triggering the doors to slide open again. They stepped into a smaller room with a single tank at the back, the figure of a clone floating within it. Prime led them toward it, staring at the clone within impassively.

“He allowed individual minds to run rampant in his Horde. He did not control them. By allowing free will to exist in his Horde, he made himself weak, vulnerable, prone to failures and deception.”

Two of his neon green eyes flicked down to Catra and he smirked knowingly. Catra froze momentarily, but he looked away from her and continued:

“Worse still, he allowed himself to be affected by the corruptive wills of those around him. He became…’deviant’, developed his own ideas, his own wishes, his own…” His voice took on a hint of disgust. “…individuality.”

They came to a stop before the lone tank. Glimmer and Catra followed Prime’s gaze upwards to the clone floating before them. Their eyes widened in shock. Suspended in the green fluid, hanging from a multitude of wires and cables attached to ports in his body, intravenous drip tubes feeding chemicals into him, an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, eyes shut, was Hordak. He was stripped naked, his thin, frail body exposed. But Catra noticed a difference in him almost immediately. He was ‘fuller’ than before. His upper body possessed more muscle, the gaps in his skeletal forearms had almost disappeared under a new layer of flesh, his shoulders had become thicker and less bony. He was in better condition than when she had glimpsed him out of armour once.

“The truth is: he was never capable of domination,” Prime stated coolly. “Conquest, yes, but control...”

He swept an arm up to Hordak’s prone form.

“…it just was not in his programming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's the difference between a conqueror and a controller? One seeks to win, the other seeks to dominate.
> 
> Next chpater, we're back in Bright Moon.


	4. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta prepares to return to Beast Island with Adora and Bow, but pre-departure encounters aren't all pleasant, and the fearless Princess of Dryl finds herself increasingly confronted with difficult feelings.
> 
> CHAPTER EDIT: There's been some minor re-writing of certain sentences and dialogue. Thanks treezoob!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Times are tough and kinda crazy right now with everything shutting down and people fearful and suffering because of the virus. Spare a thought for those who may be struggling and the life-savers out there who are working extra hard to help and look after people in need. From me, I send my best wishes for health, strength and positivity at this time to all. Look after yourselves, think of others and do what you can to keep your spirits up. The hard times will pass. Life goes on.
> 
> Remember, we must be strong and we must be brave!
> 
> And in that spirit, I give you another update.

Entrapta was used to working indoors in labs, but this time, she had to concede that being outside wasn’t such a bad thing. It made for a refreshing change of environment. She stretched her arms out and inhaled the fresh air.

Out in the palace gardens of Bright Moon, she was testing a new invention that was presently inserted into her ears: electronic sound mufflers. Small and plum in colour, she had made them for Adora, Bow, herself and spares in preparation for their return trip to Beast Island. If they worked as she intended, they would protect them against the island’s disorienting signal.

She looked out at the Moonstone in the distance and manually began adjusting tiny sliding dial controls in her ear pieces with her fingers, talking into a recorder held in a strand of her hair:

“Dampeners at 20 per cent: wind sounds still easily detectable. At 40 per cent: wind sounds slightly dulled. At 60 per cent: wind sounds still audible, though lower volume breezes are blocked out…”

After testing her sound mufflers at 100 per cent, she removed them from her ears with a satisfied smile. From behind her, she failed to notice a shadowy presence approaching.

“The princess who Hordak let into his Sanctum.”

Entrapta, startled by the voice, jumped slightly and spun round to see a masked woman in red with unruly black hair.

“Oh, hello!” the tech princess greeted loudly. She paused and squinted at the masked woman. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

“Yes, we encountered one another briefly back in the Fright Zone,” the masked woman replied flatly. When Entrapta gave no response or sign of recognition, she sighed and elaborated further, “In the Black Garnet Chamber?”

A light bulb seemed to turn on in Entrapta’s expression. “Oh! Right! When I was conducting the experiment on the Black Garnet’s connection to the other Runestones! That was so fascinating! Fun times!”

“I’m glad you were pleased at my expense,” the masked woman replied dryly. “I was imprisoned after you, Catra and Scorpia took the Black Garnet from me. Fortunately, I got out and now I reside here in Bright Moon. It is Shadow Weaver by the way.”

Entrapta bobbed up and down on her hair. “Oh, I remember now! Hordak mentioned you before when talking to Catra! He was ordering her to send you to Beast Island!” She paused, catching the potential offensiveness of her own words, then tried to back-pedal on them. “Oh, sorry if that came across as a bit blunt, I just meant that I’d heard of you before.”

If Shadow Weaver had been annoyed, there was no way to tell.

“Funny is it not,” the sorceress remarked coolly, “how after I was sentenced to be banished to Beast Island, Catra was similarly sent to the Crimson Waste. I would have thought Hordak would have sent her to Beast Island in my stead after my…departure.”

Entrapta frowned in puzzlement. “I don’t see how that’s funny at all. It strikes me as kinda harsh. In fact, I said so to Hordak at the time. He was going to send Catra to Beast Island at first, but then he decided to take my suggestion and sent her to the Crimson Waste instead.”

“Did he now?” The sorceress’ voice rose sharply, but Entrapta could not discern whether it was in genuine interest or mockery or both. “So, he took your counsel and judgement seriously and made a more merciful decision on your account. You caused him to change his mind. How very interesting.”

Was she being sincere or sarcastic? Entrapta honestly could not tell. It was difficult enough reading normal people for her, more so with this eerie, masked woman. “And I’m sure Catra was ever so grateful that you were responsible for saving her from being sent to Beast Island.”

Entrapta did not know how to respond to Shadow Weaver’s remarks. She was feeling highly uncomfortable now, and the sorceress was leaning forward toward her...

“I wonder, what exactly did Hordak see in you? How was it that you, a princess, earned his respect and trust so completely when I, and even my charge Catra, who were with him far longer and worked so hard to please him, were distrusted and so easily dismissed?”

Entrapta tilted her head at the sorceress. Her voice was calm, but her words suggested that she may have had reason to be resentful. Was she unhappy at her? Perhaps she was wanting an explanation for why she and Hordak had worked together so much? Not that it should have mattered anymore. He was gone after all…

“Oh, I was just helping him with building a portal machine!” Entrapta answered hastily. “I asked if I could and he let me!” She was pressing the pads of her gloved fingers together nervously. “I’m a scientist and engineer. I understood his theories and projects, so…I was useful to him…for a while…” Her voice dropped as she spoke the last words. She paused. “And, incidentally, I was Catra’s friend too…for a time…I trusted her.” She did not mention Catra stabbing her in the back with a stun baton.

“You trusted Catra?” The sorceress’ shoulders shook as she seemed to contain laughter. Entrapta looked at her confused again, still not understanding the source of her mirth. “How desperate or naïve you must have been, Princess, to have resorted to that. And just how did that ‘friendship’ with Catra work out, hmm?”

When the tech princess did not answer, Shadow Weaver continued. “Not so good? Well, look on the bright side, at least you captivated Hordak with the brilliance of your scientific mind. I’m sure he was **very** grateful for your assistance.”

Entrapta had to look away. With a strand of hair, she slid her insectoid mask over her face, needing a barrier between her and her uncomfortable feelings. She began fidgeting with her fingers.

“Then again,” Shadow Weaver added, “ **you** ended up being the one sent to Beast Island and he never came for you, did he?”

Entrapta’s entire body froze. Her throat seemed to tighten.

“Maybe I was mistaken. Perhaps he was not as fond of you as I originally thought. If he was, he would surely have come to rescue you from there. Wouldn’t you agree, Princess?”

Entrapta was unable to formulate an answer. She stared through her mask, paralysed, at Shadow Weaver.

“The Princesses and then Catra and Hordak…I’m sensing a pattern with you. Everyone seems to abandon you, don’t they? Now why do you suppose that might be?”

Entrapta felt herself turn into a statue before Shadow Weaver, both in body and mind. She stared through her rather than at her, trying to pretend that she wasn’t really there, that she wasn’t hearing her stabbing words.

“I suppose that’s all in the past now though,” Shadow Weaver sighed with a wave of her hand. “No point dwelling.” She turned to leave. “Well, I’ll leave you to your work then. Good day, Princess. And have a pleasant journey to Beast Island.”

The red sorceress turned and seemed to glide away. As soon as she was out of sight, Entrapta brought her arms around herself, mask remaining over her face. Her legs crumbled under her and she sank down onto the grass. Pulling her knees into her chest, she curled up into a ball, making herself small, cocooning herself with her hair. Her lungs were malfunctioning. Her breathing had become erratic and laboured. She reached urgently into her pocket and clutched Hordak’s crystal. Her head sank into her knees. No-one heard her murmuring to herself.

Adora was making her way through the palace corridor when she encountered Shadow Weaver passing her. She stopped and turned to her former guardian.

“Shadow Weaver!” she called.

The sorceress also stopped, but did not turn.

“What were you doing outside?” Adora questioned.

“Simply admiring the palace gardens,” the sorceress replied, “and getting acquainted with Princess Entrapta whilst I was there.”

Adora raised a brow suspiciously at her former guardian. “What were you saying to her?”

Shadow Weaver finally turned to her former favourite ward. “Why must you always be so suspicious of me, Adora? I had hoped you would have become a little more forgiving toward me after all this time I’ve spent here in Bright Moon. I did after all help to rescue you from the Fright Zone before, and I mentored Queen Glimmer in honing her magic. Have I not been behaving well enough? What would Queen Glimmer say if she could see us now?”

Adora glared harder at her. “Don’t you dare talk about Glimmer as if you cared about her,” she said warningly. “You might have ‘mended your ways’ for now, but don’t think for a moment that it makes up for how you treated and used me for years.”

Adora turned on her heel and began to distance herself from the sorceress. “I saved your life before, Shadow Weaver,” she stated firmly, “but don’t mistake my mercy for forgiveness. Stay away from the others. I won’t allow you to hurt anyone else.”

“Adora…” Adora stopped at the sound of her name from her one-time mother figure, but did not turn around to face her. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but if you are willing to listen, I would offer a recommendation: heed King Micah’s earlier advice about Princess Entrapta. She is not to be fully trusted. Don’t be fooled by her apparent optimism and innocence. She is carrying secrets of her own. Her loyalties may not lie entirely with you and the princesses. She is unpredictable. I would watch her closely if I were you.”

Adora, expression hardened, did not acknowledge Shadow Weaver’s advice and proceeded to stride away from her.

When Bow entered Mara’s ship, he found Entrapta there already, busying herself with studying the ship’s controls and various functions. She did not seem to notice his entry.

“Hey, Entrapta,” he greeted, approaching her from behind. “I’ve been looking for you. How long have you been in here?”

There was no response from her. She continued to study the ship’s controls with a furious intensity. Bow frowned.

“Why don’t you sit down?” he suggested. “Take a break. You don’t want to over-work yourself.”

He laid a hand gently on Entrapta’s shoulder from behind. She spun round suddenly as if she had been electrocuted. Her hair rose up defensively. Her mask was down.

“Whoah!” Bow shouted in surprise, his hands shooting up. “Easy! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

For a long moment, Entrapta stared at him, motionless. Her unmoving and unreadable turquoise lenses unsettled the archer. “Bow,” she acknowledged simply. Her body seemed to relax and her hair tails lowered.

“Entrapta, are you…okay?” Bow asked cautiously.

Old voices rung in her mind:

_“I don’t care what it takes! We are opening that portal NOW!”_

_“NO! I WON’T! I need to tell Hordak! He’ll understand!”_

“Absolutely,” she replied mechanically.

Bow looked at her seriously. “You know if you need to talk about anything, I’m here for you.” He slowly reached out and placed his hand over hers, offering her a reassuring smile.

She glanced down at his hand, pausing before replying, “Thanks,” as if suddenly realising that a response was expected from her, “but I’m fine.”

They looked at one another. Then, cautiously, Bow lifted his hand up to her mask. His fingers came within centimetres of her…then the doors to the ship’s control room opened. His hand dropped at the interruption and he turned to see Adora and Swift Wind entering. Entrapta turned away from him quickly and stepped back.

“I think we’re all set for departure,” Adora informed. “Everyone’s outside. Let’s go and say goodbye to them.”

Bow glanced back at Entrapta. She was looking away from him. His face fell.

Adora and Swift Wind headed for the doors again and Bow and Entrapta wordlessly followed them out. The four exited the ship on a lowered ramp and found the other princesses and their allies gathering outside.

“Entrapta!” It was Scorpia, running toward them with Emily following beside her. Imp was sitting atop Emily. “I have something for you!” The scorpion princess stopped abruptly before Entrapta and held out a small bag to her. “Here, I packed some Bright Moon rations for you! Tiny-sized!”

Entrapta pushed up her mask and accepted the small bag from her old Horde friend with a strand of hair. She opened it to check its contents. As she did so, Imp flew off of Emily and over to Entrapta’s shoulder, peering down alongside her into the bag and sniffing. “Thanks, Scorpia,” she said with an appreciative smile. “That was…really nice of you.”

Scorpia beamed at her acknowledgement. She then threw a glance at Imp. “Also, Imp’s been getting anxious without you. Poor little guy. I think he wants to go with you too.”

As if to confirm this, Imp clutched a mass of Entrapta’s lilac hair from her shoulder and chittered possessively. Entrapta’s hair rubbed his head reassuringly. “Of course I’ll take you with me, Imp.”

“I’ll miss you again, ‘Trap,” Scorpia said with rapidly watering eyes.

“I’ll miss you too,” Entrapta returned with a smile. “But don’t worry. Emily’ll keep you company.” She looked down at her re-programmed drone. “Won’t you?”

The drone beeped affirmatively as her mistress patted her domed head with a hand. Then suddenly, Scorpia bent forward and scooped Entrapta up in her large pincers and hugged her tightly against her chest. Imp gave a startled screech from Entrapta’s shoulder as they were abruptly lifted up. After a moment of initial discomfort, Entrapta returned her friend’s hug with both her hair and arms. It was several seconds before Scorpia finally relinquished her hold of Entrapta and set her back down on the ground.

The other Princesses had also arrived behind Scorpia and Emily. They surrounded Adora to bid farewell to her too. She was hugged by Perfuma first, then Frosta, then…She paused at Mermista whose arms were crossed.

“Erm, I’ll miss you too, Mermista?” Adora offered with a cautious grin. “Think you and the others can hold the fort here?”

Mermista huffed. “Er, well, duh. I mean we are princesses. We can handle ourselves. So yeah. Just…don’t get lost on that island. We kinda need you guys back.”

Adora placed an appreciative hand on the sea princess’ shoulder. “We’ll be back soon.” She pulled Mermista into a hug. Mermista returned the hug, but only briefly before pushing them apart again. “Okay, that’s enough mushy stuff. You better get going before I try to stop you or something.”

Behind Adora, Bow and Swift Wind stood with King Micah who had also arrived to see them off. 

“Don’t worry, King Micah,” the archer reassured. “We’ll be back as soon as possible. If I can, I’ll try to update you on our progress. I might be able to figure out a way to send messages from our First Ones’ ship.”

King Micah looked at the younger man seriously. “I feel like I should be going back there with you, to watch out for you all. If it was Glimmer going there…” He stopped talking and looked away.

Bow laid his hands comfortingly on the king’s stout shoulders. “We’ll be fine, Your Majesty, really. And we **will** rescue Glimmer. She’s my…our closest friend.”

The king nodded and Bow returned the gesture with a reassuring smile.

“Well, I for one wouldn’t mind if King Micah did come with us,” Swift Wind commented nervously behind Bow. “You know, on account of the fact that we’re going right back to an island of certain doom!” Bow elbowed the colourfully-winged stallion and shushed him.

Finally, Adora, Bow, Swift Wind and Entrapta, with Imp still on her shoulder, turned to re-board Mara’s ship, waving goodbye to their friends as they ascended the ship’s ramp.

Re-entering the ship, Adora took the sole pilot’s seat at the centre of the control room whilst Bow, Entrapta and Swift Wind positioned themselves by the ship’s control panels. They looked up at the ship’s window screens, watching their friends waving goodbye outside.

Through the windows, Entrapta noticed a familiar masked figure in red with black hair coming up beside King Micah: Shadow Weaver. Her expression descended and she pushed her mask down again to cover it, dropping her gaze. Imp, still perched on her shoulder, peered at her curiously. She scratched his tiny chin with a few hair tips. Her other hand slipped into her pocket again, finding Hordak’s crystal and holding it like a talisman.

“Okay, guys, hold on to something,” Adora instructed from the pilot’s seat. The ship’s holographic displays materialised in the air before her. “Take us to Beast Island,” she commanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta's not going to have things easy in this fic. I've got plans for her, big plans.
> 
> Shadow Weaver and Entrapta never really had a chance to properly interact with one another in the show, so I wondered how it would go and this was the result.
> 
> We've had news about the next and final season of the show coming out in a couple of months. I'm eagerly awaiting it and praying for certain things to happen like many of you. *Wink* It'll likely be the case that this story will go on after that date. 
> 
> And another big thank you to all my commenters and kudos-givers. It really is good to hear that you're enjoying my writing and that I've satisfactorily captured the tone of the show. Thank you also to everyone who's been checking out my previous works ('Moments' and 'Addendum') too. It's always nice to see readers still taking an interest in your work even after some time. I do appreciate it. You'll probably have noticed though that certain details in my stories, the origin of Entrapta's First Ones' crystal for instance, have changed. My writing and plot ideas are evolving as time goes on, but I'm still keeping everything loosely connected at least. 
> 
> Next chapter, we return to the Horde!


	5. Allegiance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak's awakens, Horde Prime and Catra have a talk, and Glimmer has a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Hope you're all surviving and keeping well. Everything's come to a standstill as the world grapples with the virus. Like many, I'm working from home now. I feel like I've turned into a hermit, but I'm not complaining. I'm continuing to churn out chapters for this fic in my spare time. I like to think that it is keeping readers entertained at this strange and challenging time.
> 
> My lovely comment and kudos-leavers, thank you so much again. I really do derive great satisfaction from every comment I read. I hope I can continue to maintain a good standard with my writing to keep you all interested.
> 
> With the fifth and final season coming out in May, this fic will most likely not be finished before then. I can't say how my writing will be affected by events of the upcoming final season, but I hope to still be able to complete this fic in time. I'll see if readers are still interested in reading after a while.
> 
> Anyways, on with the show!

_Whiteness. Bright, clean, pure. All around, all-encompassing. It was all he saw, all he knew. The world was white. Simple, wholesome white._

_Familiar places and landscapes flashed before him: a magical ‘gate’ by the sea, a forest of enchanted trees, a gleaming castle with a shining opal stone of power, a technological city under red skies. Names came with them: Salineas, the Whispering Woods, Bright Moon, the Fright Zone._

_He knew these places. They were from Etheria. He had been there to…to…He must have been sent there…by his Emperor, his almighty brother._

_Something was missing though. It felt like…pieces of himself were…gone._

_He looked out at the whiteness around him. It was untarnished, uncomplicated…perfect._

_But…it was also bland, sterile, empty…No-one but himself in a sea of white. He felt…alone._

_Something moved at the corner of his vision. Something not white. Something different, that did not blend in. Something…purple? He turned and glimpsed a formless mass of purple. From it extended many legs…like a giant spider. It flitted out of sight. He tried to locate it again._

_Then suddenly, the ‘spider’ appeared before him, upside down. He froze. It remained undefined, a perplexing imperfection, tainted the colour of purple. His eyes were drawn down by a soft aura radiating from its centre. There, he saw a fuchsia-coloured, diamond-shaped crystal, strange sigils inscribed along it, glowing warmly. Her shade of purple, her glowing crystal heart, they contrasted sharply against the whiteness, more vivid, more…fascinating. Why had he suddenly thought of it as a ‘her’? He should have been wary of her, this non-white creature, this unclean ‘stain’. But, to his incomprehension and surprise, he found that he was not. Instead, he was…curious._

_The purple ‘spider’ turned itself right side up and seemed to rise up on its many legs. The outline of a small humanoid body formed from the purple mass: petite, full-figured, feminine. Her many legs, coming from the sides of her head now, merged together, forming tree-like branches…or were they wings? They spread out, stretching toward him. Her face remained indiscernible, but he felt no fear. He reached out to touch her, her glowing crystal heart…_

_…But he could not. The harder he tried, the further she remained out of his reach._

_Who was she? Why could he not…grasp her?_

_Without warning, the whiteness closed in around him, smothering him, dragging him away from her…_

His eyes were forced open. A figure came into view: white-face, green eyes. Like him, another clone, a fellow brother.

“State your identifier code,” the brother commanded.

“H-827-01K,” he replied instantly.

“What is your function?”

“To serve the Horde Empire.”

“Whom do you serve?”

“The Emperor of the Known Universe: Horde Prime.”

Catra was nervous. She had been summoned by Horde Prime. She looked down at herself. She was in a form-fitting white and dark grey Horde uniform. Her sleeves and leggings were dark grey. A dark grey Horde emblem adorned her chest. Horde Prime had sent it to her room via a clone attendant along with a request to speak to her in his command hall. She was walking there now, following behind the silent clone attendant.

Horde Prime knew about her manipulation of Hordak back in the Fright Zone. He had suggested his knowledge of this when he had brought her and Glimmer to see what had become of Hordak, to see his ‘reconditioning’. He must have extracted the knowledge from Hordak’s mind. What else had he learnt about her from him? He had asked to speak with her only. Had he been offended at her actions from Hordak’s memories? Was he going to deal punishment to her for how she had lied to his ‘Little Brother’? Was she in danger? She could not be sure. But she was in no position to refuse his summons now as a prisoner aboard his flagship.

Her thoughts wandered as she walked in silence. Horde Prime had said that his Little Brother had been a failure for allowing free will and individual thought to exist in his version of the Horde on Etheria. He said that he had not gone far enough in controlling his soldiers. She shuddered at the thought. She had feared and hated Hordak, but she had never believed him capable of going so far as to attempt to control and mould her very thoughts. Him doing such a thing was unthinkable. Threaten her, punish her, yes. But outright take her mind? No, he was never capable of that. He had never been enough like his Big Brother to accomplish such domination over his Horde. But could he have if he had wanted to?

For one fleeting moment, Catra felt guilt. She had lied to Hordak, manipulated and hurt him. He had deserved it, she told herself, after the cruel punishments he had dealt her in the past. It was just payback. And he was an evil warlord. He didn’t have feelings, not really. No, she couldn’t think that. She couldn’t think about Hordak having feelings that could be broken. Not like hers.

They reached a giant door. The clone attendant stopped and turned round to give Catra a final visual inspection. Then he turned back and pressed his hand to a scanning pad by the side of the door. It slid upwards, revealing the enormous expanse of the command hall. As she entered behind the clone attendant, she spotted Horde Prime in the distance, reclining on his throne, crossed-legged, the digital map of the universe glittering brightly from the screens behind him.

A walkway extended automatically from her position to connect to the platform that Prime was located on, bridging the vast, dark gap between them. The attendant clone stepped aside and gestured for her to proceed. As she walked toward him, she felt Prime’s four neon green eyes upon her. She came to a stop before the dais that his throne stood upon and took a bow forward, her old Horde training kicking in. Propped up on an elbow, his face resting in his hand, Prime smiled behind a silver-bedecked finger partly covering his lips.

“You look magnificent, my dear,” he complimented.

“You wanted to see me, Emperor,” she greeted, ignoring his compliment.

He smirked. “Straight to the point. And yes, I did.” He stood up from his throne and approached her. “I think we ought to become better acquainted with one another.”

Catra’s instinct was to step back, but she forced herself to remain still as his four neon green eyes studied her.

“Curious how such a…harmless-looking creature could bring my Little Brother to his knees…literally,” he remarked in a light, seemingly humorous tone.

Catra’s eyes widened. “Emperor-,“ she began quickly, but he raised a palm to stop her. He smiled, leaning down over her.

“He was not kind with you, was he?” he said with disarming softness. “He did not **trust** you.”

Catra was paralysed on the spot as Horde Prime looked deep into her heterochromatic eyes.

“But you survived,” he said with a devastating tenderness. “And you made him pay.”

He straightened up again, allowing Catra to regain her breath.

“I saw enough of you from my Little Brother’s memories to know that you were his ‘partner in crime’.” Prime smiled knowingly. “But the truth is: you manipulated him expertly. You had him wound around your fingers, did you not?”

He leaned in close to her again, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “Tell me, did you enjoy bringing my Little Brother under submission? Did you enjoy dominating him?”

“No, I-,“ she started to stammer.

Prime interrupted her. “There is no need to deny it. You possess power, power over others, power to succeed. I am impressed.” He smiled widely at her. “You and I are not so dissimilar, Catra. We both know how to exert control. And we are not afraid to do so.”

Catra composed herself enough to cautiously ask: “What do you want?”

Prime reached out and took hold of her chin between his thumb and silver-capped forefinger, smiling perfectly. “To offer you an opportunity to prove your worth to me.”

She was starting to see where Hordak’s definition of failure came from now: _“Failure is when something ceases to be useful.”_

“I would like you to act as my Etherian representative and deliver an invitation to the princesses on my behalf,” Prime stated smoothly. “I would like for them to join me here on my flagship to discuss the Heart of Etheria.”

Catra cautiously pulled her chin out of the Emperor’s hold. “Why don’t you just send one of your clones? I’m not exactly on friendly terms with the princesses.”

“I believe they would respond better to one of their own people than to one of my clones. And you know them better than I do,” he reasoned playfully. “I wish to demonstrate my…‘good will’ to them. My forces occupy Etheria now, but I have no desire for conflict. I want you to tell them that the true Horde Empire desires only peace and order. And if they cooperate with me, they will be the beneficiaries of my benevolence.”

Catra looked down in thought for a moment, then back up at Prime. “They’re not going to cooperate willingly,” she warned.

“I am certain they will…,” the corners of Prime’s lips curled upwards, “with a little persuasion.”

He turned his head toward a door to the far side. Catra followed his gaze to see the door lifting open. A tall figure stood in the shadows of the doorway. Catra squinted to see who it was. And as the tall figure stepped out of the shadows, her eyes widened. Into the light stepped the former leader of the Horde on Etheria: Hordak. But he was different: his body, broad and visibly muscled, had been restored to health and fullness; his dark blue hair was combed back; his eyes were wide and neon green, lacking the black colouring that used to encircle them, but now displaying naturally darker eyelids; and his face was expressionless.

He was in a white uniform dress with the dark grey Horde emblem on his enlarged chest; silver armour plated his broad shoulders and the length of his arms; and a dark grey cape with silver lining and a tall collar, hanging down behind him from his shoulder plates, complimented the ensemble. He looked very much a Horde General now. Wordlessly, he came to stand at attention before Catra and, to her surprise, dropped down onto one knee before her, bowing his head as a subordinate would to his master.

She just stared at him, at a loss for words.

Prime smirked. “With my Little Brother’s assistance, I am sure the princesses will be…more than willing to take up my invitation,” he stated. “And I am certain you will find him much more agreeable to work with now.”

He took hold of Catra’s chin between his fingers again and turned her gaze back up to him, smiling flawlessly again. “I look forward to watching you perform, Catra. I see so much potential in you. Perhaps, if you do well, there might even be a place for you…at my side.”

Catra’s eyes widened again. “At…your side?” she repeated quietly.

He leaned in to whisper into her ear. “We have much in common, you and I. What if I could learn to **believe** in you?” He pulled back to look into her face again, smile unwavering. “ **Trust** you.” His hand came up to caress her cheek lightly. “ **Stay** with you.”

Catra was frozen. His words were so devastatingly intimate, his touch so disarmingly gentle. She could not help but shut her eyes and soften into the cradle of his palm. For one moment, she surrendered to the feeling of something she had craved for so long, however hollow it may have been.

Glimmer had been lying uneasily on the wide white bed when the door to her room opened. She sat up quickly to see Catra walk in, her blue and yellow eyes cast down.

“You okay?” the Bright Moon queen inquired.

Catra looked up at her briefly then looked away again. “I’m fine,” she muttered.

Glimmer watched the feline woman for a moment before asking, “What happened?”

Catra went to lean a shoulder against a wall and crossed her arms. “He wants to send me down to Etheria as an envoy,” she reported without looking at Glimmer, “to invite the princesses to join him here.”

Glimmer’s face lit up. “Then we’ll have a chance to reach them for help!” she said eagerly.

“There’s a problem though.”

“What?”

Catra stared at the bland white wall opposite her. “He’s sending Hordak with me. He’ll be leading the charge and watching.”

“You mean he’s-” Glimmer started.

“Out of the tank, yeah,” Catra replied tonelessly. “But he doesn’t remember anything about us. He’s just another one of Prime’s green-eyed puppets now.”

Glimmer sighed. “So much for him being out of the picture for a while.” She pushed herself off the bed. “We need to think of a way to get a message through to the other princesses,” She looked at Catra seriously, “without alerting Horde Prime.”

“Easier said than done,” Catra remarked dryly.

“But not impossible.” Glimmer’s lips curled upwards. “I think I might have an idea.”

Catra raised an eye brow at the glittering queen of Bright Moon. “What do you have in mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's something to be said about Hordak's treatment of Catra in earlier seasons. He certainly punished her in severe ways, physically. But it always struck me that he could have gone so much futher with tormenting her mentally and emotionally if he had wanted to. He had to have known enough about her upbringing by Shadow Weaver and the fact that she and Adora were raised together by her. But he just...never used that knowledge he had of her vulnerabilites. I'm guessing he never had the desire to get into people's heads like that. And when you consider how Horde Prime invaded his mind at the end of season 4...it just seems to make so much sense why he'd be hesitant to psychologically enter other's minds and tamper with their thoughts and feelings.
> 
> So, I'm attempting to portray Horde Prime's first form of control over others as psychological and emotional in nature. This is in contrast to Hordak's use of physical punishments as deterrants to failure. Hordak controlled his soldiers with threats of punishments, but it never went any further or deeper. I think he's been nursing trauma from Horde Prime all his life which prevented him from ever truly hurting others on a mental level and which caused him to put up barriers around himself as a form of protection.
> 
> Horde Prime is using Hordak's knowledge of Catra to full advantage in this chapter. I think he got enough from his Little Brother to leverage Catra with. The question now is: after having her heart torn open and laid bare by Double Trouble, is Catra still able to resist and survive the control of Horde Prime?
> 
> Next chapter, Beast Island!


	6. Return to Beast Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora, Bow and Entrapta journey back to Beast Island in Mara's ship, but personal feelings and uncertainties don't make it an easy ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic isn't going to be finished before Season 5 premieres. I'm about half-way through my write-up of chapters now. I'm anticipating this'll be going over 20 chapters in length!
> 
> Thank you again to everyone who has shown interest in this fic. It gives me motivation to continue it.
> 
> Hope everyone's adjusting to life indoors at this time. It's a strange and challenging new world we're living in now.

Adora was watching their ship’s location blinking on a holographic map of Etheria when the question hit her:

“What does ‘Greyskull’ mean?”

It made Adora look down from the projected map and at the question-asker: Entrapta. The Princess of Dryl was leaning over something, hands on either side of it, her insectoid mask covering her face, turquoise lenses illuminated.

“Sorry?” Adora said confused.

“What does ‘Greyskull’ mean?” Entrapta repeated without looking up. “You’ve used the word in your incantations to trigger your transformation into She-Ra. You must know what it means.”

“Um, I-,” Adora stumbled for an answer. “Well, I don’t really know.”

Entrapta looked up at her through the wide, almond-shaped lenses of her mask. Adora saw what she had been leaning over: the broken golden hilt of her sword.

“Strange,” Entrapta remarked. “I would have thought the First Ones’ A.I. program back in the Crystal Castle would have informed you.”

“Yeah, well…it turned out Light Hope didn’t tell me a lot of things, including the true purpose and consequences of the Heart of Etheria,” Adora sighed heavily. She looked at Entrapta puzzled. “Why are you asking?”

Entrapta had returned to studying the broken sword hilt. “It’s on your sword’s runestone.” She pointed at the light blue oval runestone set in the sword’s hilt.

Adora’s eyes widened slightly. “What?”

“The First Ones’ sigils inscribed within your sword’s runestone,” Entrapta clarified. “They seem to translate as ‘Greyskull’.”

Surprise entered Adora’s voice. “There are First Ones’ sigils in my sword’s runestone?”

Entrapta seemed to glance up at her quizzically, though Adora couldn’t be sure with her mask down. “Oh yes, did you not notice them before?”

“No, I…can’t say that I did,” Adora said sheepishly.

Entrapta was peering closely at the sword’s runestone now. “They’re very small. Hard to read without magnification. I’m magnifying them through my lenses now.”

“And they say ‘Greyskull’?” Adora asked again.

“My knowledge of First Ones’ language is patchy, but I’m quite sure these sigils translate as ‘Greyskull’!” Entrapta sounded excited. “It might be a clue as to the origin of the sword!”

Adora looked down in thought. “A clue…Greyskull…” She looked back up at Entrapta. “Do you think there’s a way to find out its meaning?”

“Possibly,” Entrapta answered. “Back in the First Ones’ temple on Beast Island. If anywhere contains information on where She-Ra’s sword was manufactured, it’ll be in the database stored there.”

Swift Wind, who had been standing near to Adora, spoke up. “Isn’t that, oh, I don’t know, maybe just a bit DANGEROUS? Er, hello? Are we forgetting how we were nearly trapped by the island’s plants and eaten alive by monsters there!”

“Don’t worry, we’re prepared this time!” Entrapta responded brightly, seemingly unconcerned.

With strands of her long hair, she pulled out a small box from somewhere behind her and opened it up to show her audience its contents: dark plum-coloured ear piece devices.

“If they work as intended,” she explained enthusiastically, “these electronic sound mufflers will block out the island’s signal!”

Bow, who had been standing at the controls of the ship since their take-off from Bright Moon, turned and glanced back slightly awkwardly at Entrapta. He wasn’t sure whether she was…comfortable with him at the moment. He had tried to...touch her, but they were interrupted by Adora’s arrival, then she had moved away from him…He had hoped…But that wasn’t important now. Maybe she wasn’t ready yet. She’d been through so much left behind with the Horde and then abandoned on Beast Island…Of course, she wouldn’t be ready for anything more than friendship now, he scolded himself internally. He hadn’t been thinking of her. He should have being more patient. She just needed some space for now…

She was presently engrossed in her new inventions, so he steeled himself and approached her as casually as possible.

He came before her, smiling pleasantly, and she looked up at him briefly before returning her gaze down to her ear piece inventions. He picked up a pair of them from the box she was holding and inspected them between his fingers. “Brilliant!” he praised. “So, we’ll be able to walk on Beast Island without being bothered by the signal anymore.”

Entrapta held her chin in consideration. “Weeell, I did come up with them on short notice and with limited tools…, so I’m approximately seventy per cent sure of their success!” she declared, confident of her final estimate.

Bow looked at her less than assured now. “Oh, that’s…reassuring.”

“Okay,” Adora announced, “so, we head back to the centre of the island, get the information we need from the First Ones’ temple, and, with a little luck, we’ll be able to find a way to mend the sword and be back in time to help the others rescue Glimmer and save Etheria from the galactic Horde.” She sucked in a deep breath. “No sweat.”

Bow looked at Adora, concern suddenly entering his face. “Do you…think Glimmer’s okay? I’m really worried about her. What if Horde Prime has hurt her and-”

Adora was quick to cut him off. “Glimmer’s a strong person, and she’s tougher than she looks,” she stated firmly, almost to herself. “She’ll be okay.”

Bow forced himself to smile again a little. “Yeah, you’re right. She was captured once before by the Horde. If anyone can survive that, it’s her.”

Suddenly, Imp swooped down over Adora, Bow and Swift Wind’s heads, causing them to duck slightly as he glided over to land beside Entrapta. Swift Wind glowered at the little winged creature.

“Speaking of the Horde,” the alicorn grumbled, “did we have to bring along the demon bat child? He’s…creepy.”

Imp shot the alicorn an unimpressed look and opened his mouth at him. Swift Wind’s words were played back to him: “[He’s creepy. He’s creepy.]”

“No, you’re creepy!” Swift Wind snapped back.

“[No, you’re creepy!]” Imp replayed.

“Stop that!”

“[Stop that!]”

“You’re so annoying!”

“[You’re so annoying!]”

“Ahh!”

“[Ahh!]”

Swift Wind stamped his front hoof loudly whilst glaring at Imp, and the winged clone child flew up immediately into one of Entrapta’s lilac hair tails for protection, poking his head out to glare back at Swift Wind.

Entrapta glanced from Swift Wind to her small winged companion. “Imp’s no harm, and he’s very useful!” she said quickly. “He’s great for reconnaissance and recording!”

Imp stuck his tongue out at Swift Wind to the alicorn’s annoyance. Adora went up to her steed and placed a calming hand on his snout.

“Easy, Swift Wind,” she soothed. “Imp’s not an enemy now.”

The alicorn snorted.

Bow looked at Imp with crossed arms. “Guess Hordak must have forgotten about him.”

Imp turned his glare toward Bow now, letting out a low hiss.

“I dunno.” Adora said uncertainly. “Hordak always seemed to keep that little guy close to him when I was in the Horde. Seems odd that he would just leave him behind now. He may not have cared much about us in the Horde, but it wasn’t his style to leave behind anything useful. Orphaned children and outcasts were brought back to and trained in the Fright Zone. And…he did take me in as a baby when Light Hope brought me here through a portal…” She paused in an unsettled manner for a moment. “I accused him wrongly before for taking me from my home-world…”

Bow looked back at Adora disapprovingly, surprising her. She couldn’t recall Bow ever looking this stern before.

“Adora,” he said seriously, “this is **Hordak** we’re talking about. Y’know, the evil warlord who’s been trying to conquer Etheria since the time of the first rebellion? The one who sent King Micah to Beast Island to die? Who kept Scorpia apart from her runestone, the Black Garnet? Took over Salineas and all those coastal towns? Drove innocent people out of their homes as he destroyed them? And nearly **killed Glimmer** just before they were taken by Horde Prime!” His hands had balled into fists now. He threw a finger out in the direction of Entrapta. “ **And** he left Entrapta on Beast Island!”

There was a loud clattering as something hit the floor of the ship. Adora, Bow and Swift Wind turned their heads to see Entrapta with open hands held out and the broken sword hilt lying at her feet. Gradually, as if in a drugged state, she looked down through her mask at what she had dropped on the floor and slowly picked it up with a tendril of her hair again.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, “clumsy…”

Imp crawled out from under Entrapta’s hair and began touching the cheek of her mask with his small claws in a concerned manner, making a low warbling noise. Without looking at him, Entrapta picked him up with her hair tendrils and brought him into her chest, wordlessly stroking his head with her fingers.

Adora looked at Bow uneasily again. “I know, Bow,” she said quietly. “He’s guilty of a lot of crimes, and he deserves to answer for them. But…I’m just saying that maybe…he’s not entirely the villain that we thought he was.”

Bow shook his head. “Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter much anymore. He’s with Horde Prime now. No doubt he’ll be working with him.”

“Bow is likely correct.” Entrapta’s toneless voice cut into the tense exchange abruptly. Adora and Bow looked at her in surprise. She continued, “Hordak will be back by Horde Prime’s side again. It’s…what he wanted.”

_“It’s what he left me for.”_

As if hearing her thoughts, Imp ceased touching Entrapta’s mask and his face and little ears drooped dismally. Adora and Bow had fallen silent and looked at one another uncertainly, then back at Entrapta.

“Entrapta, we know this must be hard for you…,” Adora began carefully. “You said Hordak was your friend before-”

Entrapta interrupted her. “That is…irrelevant…I knew he was going to leave.”

_“Everyone leaves me behind.”_

Bow noticed as Entrapta’s hand slipped into her pocket, feeling for something.

Then suddenly, the holographic map began flashing red above them and a loud alert blared.

“We’re here!” Adora announced. “Prepare for landing!”

They had landed back at the same place where she had first been abandoned on the island. The coincidence of this did not go unnoticed by Entrapta. She stood staring at the corroded remains of the old Horde transport skiff that she had been dumped and sent to Beast Island in. The sight of it again triggered flashbacks in her mind of an enraged Catra…

The sounds of the others approaching from behind her snapped her out of her intrusive memories. She shut her eyes briefly, then put on a calmer face before turning around to face her companions. She saw Adora and Bow coming up to her. Adora was carrying a long, rectangular case strapped to her back.

“Okay, got all my sword pieces packed in the case,” Adora announced, pulling at the strap crossing over her chest that held the case to her back.

“We’re ready to go,” Bow declared.

Entrapta nodded and, with a tendril of hair, fished out the small box containing her sound muffler devices from behind her and opened it up.

“Here, better put these in now,” she advised, “before the island’s signal begins to affect us.”

She took out a couple of pairs of the dark plum ear pieces with her hair, slipping a small pair over Imp’s ears after inserting a pair into her own. Adora and Bow did likewise, helping themselves to pairs from the box held out by her hair. Adora took out an extra pair for Swift Wind and helped insert them into the alicorn’s ears.

When all ears had been equipped with the sound mufflers and adjusted accordingly, the group looked ahead into the shadowy forest of Beast Island again.

“Do we really have to go back in there?” Swift Wind asked nervously.

“It’ll be alright, Swift Wind,” Adora reassured, rubbing his snout. “With Entrapta’s sound mufflers, the island’s signal shouldn’t be a problem again.”

“And we’ll be back at the centre of the island in a jiffy!” Entrapta informed brightly. She produced a small, flat device from her pocket that was flashing a red light. “I’ve called our ride. She’ll be here any moment.”

A loud crashing was heard from the trees suddenly then, making Adora, Bow and Swift Wind jump. They all turned to see a huge, familiar technological beast charging out of the trees toward them: Entrapta’s gorilla-like mecha bot. It came to a ground-shaking halt before the party and bent down before Entrapta.

“Hiya, Girl!” Entrapta threw herself over her giant mecha affectionately. “Did you miss me?”

The giant mecha bot emitted a happy sonorous sound in response.

“I missed you too,” Entrapta declared happily. “We need you to give us a ride back to the centre of the island.”

The gorilla-like mecha bot emitted a resonant affirmative sound and its wide jaws opened up to allow entry for passengers.

Entrapta turned to her companions with a wide grin. “All aboard!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, more from Beast Island!


	7. Crystal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora, Bow and Entrapta make an unexpected discovery on Beast Island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's everyone coping with indoor life? Easter weekend is here, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. If you're stuck at home with no access to the outside world, might I suggest listening to relaxing music and the sounds of nature? It's done wonders for me.
> 
> Again, to my comment and kudos-leavers, thank you so much! It's gratifying to know others are enjoying my writing!
> 
> And now, on with the show!

“Why’s it so dark in here?” Bow asked nervously.

Adora, Bow and Entrapta, along with Swift Wind and Imp, had made it back to the centre of Beast Island in Entrapta’s giant beast of a mecha and found the ancient First Ones’ temple again. The entrance had been blocked by a wall of dead, hardened vines which Bow and Entrapta had managed to cut through with a heat-tipped arrow and laser scalpel respectively. They had been immersed into darkness as they ventured into the tunnel leading into the temple, feeling their way along the walls.

The sliding sound of doors opening alerted the group that they had finally arrived back in the temple’s main hall. 

“Give me a sec to reactivate the systems,” Entrapta announced, running her gloved hands and hair along the walls next to the doors, feeling for something.

Her hand stopped over a white crystal set in the wall. Lines of light began to spread out from the crystal and fill the entire hall. Without warning, a dull light flooded the hall, illuminating the platform and giant computer screen ahead. Black vines still hung along the walls and floor and over the giant screen.

“Ta dah!” Entrapta declared, arms and pigtails raised. “Home sweet home!”

“Well, at least someone’s happy to be back here,” Swift Wind muttered as they proceeded cautiously along the pathway leading to the platform where the supercomputer stood.

“Careful,” Adora warned, glancing warily around herself, “we don’t know when the signal could reactivate.”

They crossed the pathway and were nearing the supercomputer when the ground beneath their feet began to tremor. The black vines along the walls and floor stirred to life, inching forward toward them.

“Er, guys!” Bow shouted in alarm. He pulled out his bow and an arrow, directing them at some of the approaching vines.

“Not again!” Swift Wind cried, backing up a few steps.

Imp, who had been perched on Entrapta’s shoulder, took to the air, screeching in alarm. The group huddled together as the vines encircled them. Digging into her pocket, Entrapta pulled out a grey disc-shaped device and tossed it across the floor into the vines. As the disc device slid to a stop, almost immediately, the vines began retreating away from it, disappearing back through holes in the walls and floor. Adora, Bow and Swift Wind let out sighs of relief simultaneously.

“Aha! It worked!” the tech princess declared triumphantly. “As I suspected, the vines respond to high-frequency sounds! The island’s signal has been influencing them! So my counter-signal emitter works to repel them! As long as we keep it on, it should keep the vines at bay!”

“You’re a genius!” Bow exclaimed, looking with wide-eyed admiration at Entrapta.

“Oh, well, thanks, Bow…,” she said nervously, looking away from his big, bright eyes.

Bow approached her with a smile. “I mean it. You really are amazing.”

Entrapta’s cheeks reddened and she looked down at the ground as Bow came to stand before her. Her magenta eyes rose up to his face to see him smiling warmly at her. She offered him a small smile back.

Adora made a throat-clearing sound, causing the pair to look at her.

“Good work, Entrapta,” Adora commended. “Now we need to find out how to fix the sword.”

Entrapta lifted herself up on her hair and moved toward the supercomputer. Imp, glaring with narrowed yellow eyes at Bow, took to the air to follow his mistress. She lowered herself before the giant screen and began running her fingers over the keys. Imp landed beside her on a ledge. The screen lit up and vertical lines of First Ones’ code appeared.

“Finding out how to repair the sword might not be as important as finding out where it came from,” Entrapta mused. “‘Greyskull’ was written on the sword’s runestone in First Ones’ sigils. It might be a clue as to where the sword originated.”

She paused in her typing and looked up at the giant computer screen. The lines of First Ones’ code rearranged themselves into a gold image of She-Ra’s sword.

“If we can find out where the sword came from originally, we might be able to find out how it was made,” Entrapta theorised, her magenta eyes sparkling with excitement. “And if we know how the sword was made, we’ll know how to re-make it, maybe even improve it.”

“That makes sense,” Adora agreed thoughtfully. “So, if we find out what ‘Greyskull’ is, it might lead us to where the sword came from.”

“Precisely!” Entrapta replied enthusiastically. “Knowing where something comes from is key to understanding how it was created and what it is. Without that knowledge, things are…” She paused, growing still, staring blankly at the screen. “incomplete…”

_“Princess Entrapta!”_

_The Princess of Dryl, ten years old, long lilac hair in pigtails with buns at the top, dressed in a stained white t-shirt under blue overalls, opened her eyes sleepily._

_“Princess Entrapta, are you in here?”_

_Her eyelids fluttered. Slowly, she lifted her head up. It sounded like…_

_“Ms. Baker?” she croaked._

_A large, broad-bodied woman with light green hair came into her vision. She was carrying a basket on one arm._

_“There you are, Princess!”, Baker, the large, green-haired woman exclaimed. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She sighed. “You fell asleep in your workshop again.”_

_The young Princess of Dryl looked around herself. She was sat at her work table, tools and junk scattered around it. Her small gloved arms were crossed in front of her on the table, where she had been laying her head._

_“Oh, I guess I did,” she observed absently. “Sorry, I got carried away with my new father-bot yesterday. I’ve almost finished him you know!”_

_She brightened as she said her last sentence and gestured excitedly to a skeletal-looking robotic figure hanging in the corner of the room._

_Baker glanced uncomfortably at the inhuman technological creation then back to the young princess._

_“That’s…nice,” she said awkwardly._

_The large woman looked down at the basket she was carrying and dug a hand into it._

_“Do you know what day it is, Princess?” she asked._

_The young princess pulled up a thick work glove and looked down at her digital watch._

_“Friday the twenty-fourth of January,” she replied._

_Baker nodded and smiled. “That’s right. But what’s special about today?”_

_Princess Entrapta blinked. “Umm…”_

_Baker sighed again. “It’s your birthday, Princess.”_

_She lifted a plate with a purple icing-topped cupcake on it from her basket and laid it down on the table before the young princess. Then she dug into the wide front pocket of her white apron and produced a purple-striped candle, which she promptly stuck into the top of the cupcake. This was followed by a box of matches being pulled out of her apron pocket too, a match being struck and the single candle being lit._

_“Happy birthday, Princess Entrapta,” Baker said warmly._

_Entrapta gazed at the candle-topped purple cupcake before her._

_“I forgot…,” she said wistfully. “I’m ten years old today.”_

_“Would you like your birthday present now too?” Baker asked with a smile._

_Entrapta’s face brightened and her lilac pigtails rose. She looked up at Baker, nodding eagerly. “Oh, yes, please, Ms. Baker.”_

_Baker fished into her basket again and lifted out a small black box._

_“This is a very special gift,” she informed the young princess, holding out the black box toward her. Entrapta took it in both her gloved hands, gazing intently at it._

_“It’s something left behind by…,” Baker hesitated momentarily, “…your parents.”_

_Entrapta’s magenta eyes widened and snapped up to her. “My parents?”_

_Baker nodded and tilted her head at the black box. “Open it,” she said._

_Entrapta carefully lifted up the upper lid of the black box and peered down into it. Inside, cushioned on red cloth, was a diamond-shaped, fuchsia-coloured crystal with alien symbols inscribed vertically along its face. The young princess’ magenta eyes glittered._

_“Wooow…,” she breathed, entranced. “It’s so…beautiful…” She focused on the strange symbols on the crystal’s face. “What does it say?”_

_“I don’t know,” Baker answered. “But it belonged to your parents before…and they wanted you to have it.”_

_Entrapta rubbed her thumbs over the crystal’s face, drifting into thought. “Did…they talk about me much…before they were gone?” she asked after a moment of silence._

_There was a pause before Baker knelt down beside the small princess, taking the end of one of her long pigtails in her hand and placing her other hand over it. She looked firmly into the small princess’ face._

_“They left you this wonderful castle to live in,” she said slowly. Then she pointed at the crystal in Entrapta’s hands. “And this beautiful gift.” She looked into the princess’ large magenta eyes. “So…don’t ever doubt that they loved you.”_

_Entrapta gazed down at the symbols on the crystal’s face again._

_“Loved me…,” she echoed._

“What’s that?”

Bow’s question pulled her out of her memories. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, blinking. Bow was pointing down at something in her hand. She looked down to see that she was now holding her First Ones’ crystal in her palm. Quickly, she closed her fingers over it and slipped it back into her trouser pocket.

“Just a…personal item,” she answered without looking at Bow. She returned her gaze up to the giant screen of the supercomputer in front of her.

Bow frowned at her from behind. He had glimpsed a crystal in her grasp, perhaps a First Ones’ crystal? But why would she want to hide it? She was usually enthusiastic to talk about anything to do with First Ones’ tech. She had said it was a ‘personal item’ though, so he did not want to pry.

Adora came to stand beside Bow. “Have you found anything, Entrapta?” she asked.

“Yes!” Entrapta declared with a raised arm and finger. “As I suspected, the sword came from Greyskull!”

“Then Greyskull is…a place?” Adora asked slowly.

An image formed out of moving light pixels on the giant computer screen above them. They watched the pixels cluster together at the centre of the screen and reform into the shape of a square castle structure with four towers, one at each corner.

“It’s an ancient castle to be more precise,” Entrapta responded with twinkling eyes, “located in…”

“…Eternia,” Adora finished, eyes widening in realisation.

“And there’s something else.” Entrapta’s pigtails stretched and lifted her up closer to the screen. “I found out what’s been causing the signals on this island! They’re emanating from an unknown First Ones’ artifact, a runestone known as the **‘Chaos Crystal’**!”

The castle image on the screen reformed again into an oval-shaped object.

“And it’s hidden somewhere in this temple!” Entrapta happily declared with a flourish of her hands.

Bow exchanged a surprised glance with Adora. “Another runestone? Here?”

“Yes!” Entrapta exclaimed excitedly. “And according to this data, it’s capable of opening a portal to Eternia!”

“A runestone capable of opening a portal?” Adora repeated in disbelief.

“It sounds…dangerous,” Bow said uncertainly.

Entrapta let out an excited giggle as she twirled on her pigtails. “I know! Isn’t it exciting?”

Adora looked down in thought for a moment. “Why haven’t we heard of this ‘Chaos Crystal’ before? Light Hope only mentioned six runestones that were part of the Heart of Etheria, including the one in my sword.”

Entrapta returned to face the giant computer screen, her hair forming a makeshift seat for her to sit on. “The Chaos Crystal doesn’t seem to be linked to the other elemental runestones of Etheria,” she explained, holding her chin in concentration as she scanned lines of First Ones’ code underneath the pulsing image of the oval object. “It appears to be an artificial First Ones’ construct of unknown origin.”

“An ‘artificial construct’?” Bow repeated with a raised eyebrow. “So, it isn’t connected to a princess?”

“There’s no mention of that,” Entrapta replied without taking her eyes off the information in front of her.

Adora’s brow furrowed, considering for a moment, before saying, “If this runestone can get me to Eternia to re-make the sword, then we might have to use it.” She looked to Entrapta again. “How do we find it?”

“Hmm, there may be an activation point somewhere around here,” Entrapta thought aloud. “I would suggest searching for these First Ones’ sigils linked to the crystal.” She pointed to the giant screen at an enlarged image of First Ones’ sigils next to the oval object. “They should be somewhere in this temple.”

She slid off her hair and straightened, scanning the surrounding temple walls. Imp flew up from the computer ledge beneath her and began circling the higher walls to assist in her search.

Adora and Bow nodded and joined the search too, scanning the walls opposite from Entrapta. Swift Wind trotted a short distance behind them, doing the same. As they walked side-by-side, Bow leaned over to Adora to speak in a low voice:

“Adora, remember when Light Hope spoke about a ‘half-descendent princess of Etherian and First Ones’ blood’ who could potentially access the Heart of Etheria? Do you think…this Chaos Crystal might have something to do with her? What if she’s a princess who never connected to a runestone like how Scorpia hadn’t until she came to us?”

“I don’t know, Bow,” Adora replied in a hushed voice, not taking her eyes off the walls. “Or maybe, whoever created this ‘artificial’ runestone was the only one who could connect to it, and now it’s just…unconnected and dormant.” She glanced over at Entrapta, moving around on her ‘legs’ of hair, on the other side of the temple. Then she looked at Bow seriously. “We shouldn’t talk about this now. This information is dangerous. The less people that know, the better.”

“ **There!** ”

Adora and Bow jumped at the sudden cry of Entrapta’s voice. They looked over to her and saw her feeling and tapping a spot on the wall where the First Ones’ sigils of the Chaos Crystal appeared. Around the large sigils was a circle of smaller ones carved into the wall. Drawing closer on her hair, Entrapta peered eagerly at the collected sigils. As she approached the wall, her gloved hand pressed onto the centre of the sigil circle. To her surprise, they lit up suddenly, causing her to back away.

A whirring sound filled the temple hall and all eyes looked toward the centre of it. In the middle of the hall’s platform, a cylindrical, white, metal column rose up out of the floor. When it had fully extended, the top of the column peeled open in segments, revealing a small, shining, oval crystal pulsing with a reddish-pink cerise-coloured aura, held by claw-like, metal clasps around it. Adora, Bow and Swift Wind looked at the glowing gem in astonishment. Entrapta stared mesmerised, Imp copying her expression from her shoulder. The crystal’s light was reflected in her wide magenta eyes.

“Woooow!” Entrapta exhaled in wonder. “It’s beeeautiful…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta made her robot parents because she's never had her real ones around. But I decided that 'Baker' from Entrapta's debut episode has been one of her castle staff since her childhood. I imagine growing up alone in a castle, locked away in a lab most days, didn't do much for her social skills.
> 
> The Chaos Crystal takes influence from the Spirit Ember from the SPOP _Legend of the Fire Princess_ graphic novel. The idea of an artifical runestone fits nicely into my plot ideas, some pretty big plot ideas!
> 
> And in case you're wondering, Adora and Bow's reference to a 'half-descendent princess of Etherian and First Ones' blood' was from my previous fic _Addenedum_.
> 
> Next week, Bright Moon's in trouble!


	8. Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bright Moon comes under attack by the Horde, and only Micha, a collection of sorcerers and six princesses are left to defend it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get dire for Bright Moon in this chapter.
> 
> With the release of season 5 coming up, I've been deabting whether or not to increase my updates in the next few weeks. I've got 13 chapters written up now, so I might decide to post up two chapters in some weeks. I'll see how my writing progress goes. As I said before, I'm expecting this fic to go over 20 chapters now. Whew!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are aprpeciated!

King Micah gazed at his baby girl, wrapped in pink cloth and held between him and his beloved Angella. On the walls of Castle Bright Moon’s War Room, in the murals there depicting the kingdom’s greatest moments, their family remained whole, as he had dreamed for so long during his exile. After years of surviving on Beast Island, he had finally come home, but his family were gone, both his queen and his princess. It was a cruel and hollow return for the king.

“She was very much like you when I first met her…”

Micah turned to face the source of the creeping voice behind him and saw Shadow Weaver approaching him. He frowned.

“…so full of magical potential, but in need of guidance on how to develop and channel her powers.” The red sorceress stopped a short distance from him, close enough to speak discreetly with him, but far enough away to remain out of his immediate reach. “Her mother had kept her sheltered for most of her life, but like you, she had a rebellious streak, and she was willing to act on her feelings.”

“I have no desire to talk to you, Shadow Weaver,” Micah flatly stated.

Shadow Weaver paused, looking at the king, her expression unreadable behind her mask. “Perhaps you may find it difficult to believe after…everything that has happened since I left Mystacor so long ago,” she said slowly, “but I truly had only wanted to help your daughter. I taught her to hone her magical abilities as I once did with you, and I tried to stop her from going to the Fright Zone before she was captured. But, like you, she had her own will.”

“If you’re looking for sympathy from me…” Micha began darkly.

“Sympathy?” the red sorceress chuckled dryly. “From King Micah of Bright Moon? Of course not. I joined the Horde and turned against the Princess Alliance. And I had you exiled to Beast Island.”

Micha’s bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. “You? Hordak made the order to send me there…”

“Who do you think suggested the idea to him in the first place?” Shadow Weaver said without sarcasm.

Suddenly, Micah’s hands and his gem-studded wooden staff from Beast Island began to glow, charging with magical energy. Anger was apparent on his face and body.

“It was you?” he growled. “You’re the one responsible for me being sent there? You…betrayed me…”

“I **saved** you,” Shadow Weaver stated, unfazed. “Or at least, I gave you a fighting chance at survival.”

Micah’s expression changed from anger to confusion as he stared at his former mentor.

“Hordak would probably have simply thrown you into one of the Fright Zone’s prison cells and allowed you to rot to death if I hadn’t intervened, unoriginal fool that he was,” she explained. She tilted her head slightly and drew nearer to Micah, holding his gaze. “But I gave you a chance to survive, to live free from the Horde. With your magical talent, I knew you’d have a chance at surviving, even on an island of death.”

“You’re lying…,” Micah uttered through gritted teeth.

There was a strange look in Shadow Weaver’s pupiless white eyes. “Am I?”

The entire War Room shook suddenly as the force of an earthquake hit it. The distant sound of what may well have been an explosion was heard.

“What was that?” Micah asked quickly as soon as the room had become still again.

The doors of the War Room were thrown open then as a uniformed palace guard ran in. “Your Majesty! Come quickly! We’re under attack!” the guard hurriedly announced.

Both Shadow Weaver and Micah looked at the guard now. “The Horde?” Micah questioned seriously.

“Yes! Their ships have surrounded the castle!” the guard informed urgently. “The princesses and sorcerers are trying to hold them off!”

“Rally as many guards as you can!” Micah ordered, pointing toward the door.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The guard bowed quickly to the king before rushing out of the War Room to fulfil his command.

Micah held up his staff and free hand in preparation for spell-casting. “I’m going out to help them face the assault!”

“Wait,” Shadow Weaver interjected as Micah started to draw magical sigils in the air with a finger. “A teleportation spell works better with more than one caster.”

Micah watched Shadow Weaver carefully as she came to stand before him, raising her hands in front of him. “Shall we begin?” she asked.

Micah glared hard at her, but relented with a simple nod. With practised synchronisation, the two sorcerers traced invisible magical sigils in the air that began to light up with magical energy. A circle of light appeared on the floor around them, and they were encompassed by rising, swirling pink energies before disappearing.

From the entrance of the castle, princesses, sorcerers and castle guards alike looked up in horror at the smouldering remains of the castle’s once-standing tallest tower. The top half of the structure had been sliced off at an angle and now lay half-crushed in the shallow waters beneath the castle, parts of walls scattered around, a fallen testament to Bright Moon’s former glory, but now, like its queens, was gone.

“Did…did you see that?” Perfuma squeaked at her fellow princesses. “That giant energy beam came out of nowhere and cut down the tower like it was a sapling tree!”

The sudden sound of engines caused everyone to look skyward then. A sleek and angular grey spaceship descended from the skies and came to hover just above the smoking castle tower. A long firing weapon stuck out from the bottom of the ship, its barrel hole glowing green with unspent energy. Castle Bright Moon’s horrified onlookers gaped as other similar spaceships appeared, surrounding the castle from all sides in a circular formation, long weapons aimed at it.

“Horde ships!” Frosta shouted.

Castaspella stepped forward from the collected sorcerers, arms raised at her sides. “We have to protect the castle!” she ordered, pointing up to the Horde ships.

Together, the sorcerers brought up their arms in unison. Their hands glowed as globules of magic were generated. A storm of magical energy blasts rained down upon the Horde ships, but bounced harmlessly off unseen energy shields around each ship.

“They’re…protected from magic,” Castaspella uttered in shock.

“We’ll see about that!” Mermista boldly declared, raising her arms to channel her powers.

The princesses began to glow as they summoned their combined elemental powers. Tidal waves, plant vines, ice shards, electrical bolts, energized nets and wind cyclones were thrown at the Horde ships, but to no avail. The combined forces of the princesses crashed harmlessly against the ships’ unseen forcefields.

“No way!” Frosta cried in disbelief.

Suddenly, columns of light shot down from the ships. The princesses and their allies watched in shock as Horde soldiers in white and silver uniform began materialising out of the light columns onto the ground, all bearing a striking similarity to a certain leader of the Fright Zone. They carried firing weapons attached to one of their arms and shields attached to their other arms. As their numbers grew, they began advancing toward the castle and the princesses.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Spinerella exclaimed.

“Looks like Hordak finally managed to clone lots of himself,” Scorpia remarked.

“Hordak cloned himself?” Netossa asked in surprise.

The small army of Horde clones halted in their advance when a circle of pink energy with sigils appeared on the ground before them, and the form of a man holding a staff and a woman materialised within it. King Micha and Shadow Weaver appeared from the magical circle, lowering their hands and separating from each other after casting their joint teleportation spell. Micha quickly turned to face the Horde clones, raising his staff.

“PRINCESSES, GET BACK!” Micah bellowed as he summoned a magical barrier from the ground with his staff, separating them from the Horde clones. “Sorcerers, form a circle! We need to set up a protective shield around the castle!”

The gathered Sorcerers, including Shadow Weaver and Castaspella, moved forward at the king’s command, but were stopped by another male voice thundering through the air abruptly.

“King Micah of Bright Moon…”

All eyes focused on a tall and imposing figure cutting through the ranks of the Horde clones, a clone with recognisable dark blue hair and red fangs, though his face appeared more youthful and his body larger in build than before. He wore a white Horde uniform embellished with silver armour plating over his shoulders and arms and complete with a dark grey cape flowing behind him. His eyes were an alien neon green though.

“…your castle has been claimed in the name of the glorious Emperor of the Horde,” he announced. “Cease your resistance.”

“Hordak?” Micah said in surprise.

Hordak’s green eyes narrowed at the king. “I am a General of the Horde Empire. I do not have a name.” He took a long step forward. “Stand down. We require an audience with the princesses.”

Micah glared back at Hordak and crouched into a combat stance. “Not going to happen.”

There was no visible reaction from Hordak. “Very well,” he responded simply.

The Horde General lifted his right arm unceremoniously, and from the shifting plates of his silver armour, a streamlined blaster weapon was formed, encompassing the whole of his right forearm. The barrel of the weapon glowed with a green charge before releasing a sizable blast of green energy directly at Micah’s magical barrier. The force of the blast’s impact rippled across the barrier, sending green energy tendrils travelling across it and destabilising it before it finally crumbled out of existence. Micah and the defenders of Castle Bright Moon behind him gasped in surprise as the barrier fell.

Micah started to raise his staff again, but was halted when Hordak caught it in his large, clawed grip. He had now somehow moved swiftly into striking distance of Micah. Micah looked up in shock at Hordak’s deathly white face as his staff was wrenched from his grasp and crushed into pieces in Hordak’s impossibly powerful grip. Micah brought his arms up in another desperate attempt to cast magic, but Hordak’s other clawed hand, energy weapon retracted, shot out and grabbed Micah by the throat, lifting him easily off his feet until he was dangling in the Horde General’s grasp.

“King Micha!” the princesses gasped in horror.

Shadow Weaver, Castaspella and the other sorcerers raised their hands, now glowing with magical charges, preparing to attack Hordak. He cast a steely glare in their direction.

“I would not advise that,” he warned severely, “unless you wish for your king’s demise by my hand.”

The sorcerers reluctantly lowered their arms, looking fearfully at their king. Hordak looked back at the king gasping and struggling in his grasp, his hands clutching Hordak’s thick wrist weakly as he struggled to breathe. Without blinking, Hordak threw him to the ground. Micha’s hand went to his throat, holding it as he coughed and sputtered. Immediately, Castaspella ran up to him, helping him to sit up again.

“I repeat, cease your resistance,” Hordak declared again. “It is futile.”

Pushing himself upright with a shaky arm and Castaspella’s support from beside him, Micha managed to force himself to look back up furiously at Hordak again. “You…you took me away from my family…sent me to Beast Island…,” he croaked with all the venom he could muster.

Hordak’s gaze narrowed at the king, and a brow lifted subtly. “Beast…Island…,” he repeated slowly. Hazy images of something small, something purple, flashed in his mind’s eye.

“ **Yes!** ” Micah shouted angrily. “The island you sent prisoners to that you wanted **dead**! But I survived!”

For a moment, Hordak’s face slackened and an unreadable look entered his expression. “Dead…,” he repeated again in a low voice, inexplicable feelings of rage and grief gripping him from within his broad chest, causing his breaths to become laboured. His hand rose unconsciously to a spot beneath his neck, as if searching for something there.

Micah and Castaspella were looking at him in confusion now. “What’s wrong with you?” Castaspella questioned.

The unreadable look vanished and Hordak’s face hardened again. “Nothing is wrong with me,” he intoned. “I am whole. I am…as I **should** be.”

From behind Hordak, a few of the Horde clones strode forward, weapons raised at the sorcerer king and his sister. A clone soldier with silver armour similar to Hordak’s, but lacking a cape, looked to his commanding officer.

“Should we kill him, General?” the clone soldier inquired, energy weapon targeted at the king and charging up.

Hordak remained still, watching the king and his sister huddled together, holding one another’s hands, looking back at him fearfully. Something stirred within him at the sight of the two of them, so vulnerable and dependent in how they clung to one another. Looking at them made him feel…like he was missing something…someone…someone he had been vulnerable with too…someone he…longed for…

Finally, he responded, “No. Our business is with the princesses only. We have no orders to kill.”

“With due respect, General,” the clone soldier pressed, “he wields powerful magic. He is a potential threat. We should eliminate him now.”

Hordak turned suddenly on his soldier, long ears folded down close to the sides of his head, sharp red teeth bared, approaching him menacingly. “Are you questioning me, Lieutenant?”

The clone lieutenant shrank back under his General’s shadow. “N-no, Sir.”

The clone soldiers surrounding Micha and Castaspella with raised weapons were all looking silently at Hordak and the lieutenant now.

Hordak’s green eyes sharpened on the clone lieutenant. “I have told you that we have no orders to kill, but if you believe yourself worthy to decide on matters of life and death, then perhaps our Emperor should also decide on your continued existence.” He drew dangerously close to the lieutenant’s face. “Is your usefulness sufficient enough to save you from being deemed a failure, Lieutenant?”

“I-I was mistaken,” the clone lieutenant sputtered, bowing low. “Forgive me, General.”

After a few more moments of glaring down at him, Hordak withdrew from the shrunken lieutenant. He then cast an icy green glare out across the other clone soldiers.

“Does anyone else wish to question my orders?” he rumbled.

The army of clones remained deathly silent.

“They are no threat to us now,” Hordak stated, casting a glance at Micha and Castaspella. “Lower your weapons. There will be no needless execution here.”

A surprised and speechless Micah and Castaspella, along with the rest of Bright Moon’s equally surprised and speechless onlookers, watched in stunned disbelief as the Horde clones lowered their weapons. Hordak had commanded his clone army to spare their king, an act of mercy none had expected from the former Lord of the Fright Zone.

Hordak’s attention was then drawn back toward the castle when he saw the princesses cautiously approaching King Micah and Castaspella’s position.

“Okay, we’re here,” Mermista announced from the head of the group. “What do you want, Horda-, um, General?”

“Princesses,” Hordak bent down in a bow, surprising his royal audience, “we come to deliver a message from our mighty Emperor.”

“Lucky for you all, the ‘General’ here is still…soft.”

The princesses, Micha and Castaspella looked in the direction of the new, but familiar sultry voice coming from behind Hordak. Wordlessly, Hordak stepped aside, arm folding across his chest and bowing slightly, to allow a feline figure to emerge from the Horde clones. The princesses’ faces became grimaces as Catra came into view, save for Scorpia, whose eyes widened and mouth fell open at the sight of her former fellow Force Captain. Catra was in a form-fitting white and dark grey Horde outfit as well.

“Heeey, princesses,” the feline woman greeted with a smirk.

She casually strolled up to the princesses, scanning them: the mermaid one, the ice child, the plant lady and…Scorpia. Only four of them. No sign of Adora…

“Sorry we didn’t knock,” she mock-apologised, “but we didn’t really have the patience to wait for your permission to enter the castle grounds.”

“Catra?” Scorpia called out softly.

Catra’s heterochromiatic eyes shifted to the scorpion princess. A fleeting look of pain passed over her expression as their eyes met briefly, but it disappeared as quickly as it had manifested and Catra looked back at the other princesses.

“Catra! What are you doing here?” Frosta demanded.

Catra brought up her hands in a placating gesture. “Oh, I’m not wanting to cause any trouble. I’m just here to extend a friendly invitation from Horde Prime. You’ll want to hear it considering your precious Queen Glimmer is currently a captive of his.”

The princesses fell silent at the mention of Glimmer, glaring at Catra.

“What have you done with my daughter?!” Micah suddenly cried out in anguish. He tried to rise to his feet, but collapsed back into Castaspella’s arms as dizziness overcame him.

Catra’s eyebrows lowered as she narrowed her gaze at the king. His resemblance to Glimmer was strong. Definitely her father. “I see where she gets the impatience from,” she commented with a half-smile. “Don’t worry. She’s safe…for now.”

“So, what do you want to tell us?” Mermista asked pointedly, crossing her arms and glaring at Catra. “We’re listening.”

Catra smirked and placed her hands on her hips. “Horde Prime wants to invite you four princesses to join him up in his rather impressive flagship. He knows about the Heart of Etheria and is very interested in gaining your cooperation to use it.”

“But the Heart of Etheria was-,” Perfuma began, but was cut off by Mermista throwing a sharp look back at her.

The sea princess kept her eyes focused on Catra. “Do we, like, have a choice in this?” she asked dryly.

“Truthfully, not really,” Catra replied nonchalantly. “Horde Prime’s forces occupy all of Etheria now. And, as you’ve just seen, they’re ready to be deployed anywhere and at any time. Our world already belongs to him. There’s no point fighting, running or hiding. So, I‘d recommend not resisting him.”

Catra walked forward, drawing closer to the princesses. “But he’s not really interested in conflict. He just wants to talk with you all about the Heart of Etheria.” Her fingers slipped into a hip pocket and pulled out a small, flat, box-shaped device, grey in colour, which she held up to the princesses. She looked at them intently now. “You’ve got three days to make up your minds. There are details of a pick-up point and time on this device. Be there on time when you’re all ready to meet Horde Prime.”

The princesses looked at Catra cautiously, then at the device she was holding up to them. Mermista stepped forward and held her hand out to Catra to accept the small device from her, her eyes never leaving Catra as she did so. The feline woman simply smiled wryly at her as she dropped the device into the sea princess’ palm. Both of them stepped back as soon as the transfer was complete.

“Don’t take too long,” Catra said casually. “He doesn’t like being kept waiting.”

The princesses watched as Catra turned and walked back to Hordak and the small army of waiting Horde clones, throwing a glance back at them. The Horde ships had come to hover above the Horde soldiers now and tractor beams were engaged, picking up the Horde clones in batches. Hordak and Catra were the last to disappear into the columns of green light beams, Hordak’s expression stern and Catra’s unreadable as they looked back at the beaten members of the Rebellion and a fallen Castle Bright Moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How does Shadow Weaver know about Beast Island? Well...coz she was the one that sugested it to Hordak in the first place!
> 
> Hordak's back in the role of general. Just seemed to make sense with the idea of his reconditioning being a reversal to his original state. But even without his memories of Etheria, Hordak is still his own person and capable of making his own decisions.
> 
> And Micah vs. Hordak seemed like a pretty cool idea. Magic vs. technology is always awesome!
> 
> Next week, back to Beast Island!


	9. On Fragile Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora, Bow and Entrapta's discovery on Beast Island unleashes a power that transcends worlds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news, readers! I might be updating more regularly in the next couple of weeks. I'm wanting to get to a certain point in this story before season 5 hits, so I'm looking potentially at posting new chapters twice per week until the new season hits next month.
> 
> Remember, kudos and comments are my lifeblood!
> 
> Enjoy!

The cerise glow of the small, oval gem filled Entrapta’s enlarged magenta eyes.

“The Chaos Crystal…,” the captivated science princess breathed, “it’s…the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen…”

She stood open-mouthed, transfixed on the vibrant crystal, no bigger than the palm of her hand, pulsing steadily from its metal column at the centre of the First Ones’ temple. Imp was perched on her back, looking over her shoulder. And facing her, on the other side of the crystal, Adora, Bow and Swift Wind were staring at the brilliant gem too.

“A runestone…here on Beast Island,” Bow remarked in wonder. “It’s barely bigger than a shard.”

A joyful smile had spread across Entrapta’s lips and her hands were clasped together in front of her. “I know! Isn’t it just perfect?” Tears were forming at the corners of her wide, overjoyed eyes.

Adora and Bow glanced wordlessly at one another. Entrapta’s excited reactions to new discoveries of First Ones’ tech were always…unusual.

“So, this is the runestone that can open portals?” Adora asked.

Entrapta did not seem to hear the question as she remained fixed on the crystal before her.

“Entrapta?” Adora prompted again.

Entrapta’s attention snapped up to Adora. “What? Oh, yes! If we can activate it!”

“Okay, so how do we activate it?” Adora pressed.

Entrapta’s gaze returned to the crystal. “I need to study it. It could take some time to find out exactly how it works…”

Adora’s hands came up suddenly and her expression became exasperated. “Entrapta,” she pleaded, “we came here on your suggestion to find a way to mend the sword, but we’ve left the others back at Bright Moon to face the Horde alone! We don’t have much time…”

Entrapta looked at her again, confusion and discontent evident on her face. “Discovery can’t be rushed!” she protested.

Bow placed a steadying hand on Adora’s shoulder from behind. “Adora, let’s just…let Entrapta have a look at the crystal first and see what she can figure out,” he said calmingly.

Adora inhaled then nodded in assent. “Okay,” she relented. She looked back at Entrapta awkwardly. “Sorry,” she murmured, “I shouldn’t have-”

But Entrapta seemed to have stopped paying attention to them now as she drew closer to the small, oval crystal on strands of her hair, leaning over to both sides of the crystal to examine it more fully.

“Iiiincredible!” she commented breathlessly. “I’ve never seen a runestone like this before! It seems to be radiating a considerable amount of energy! So much power stored within such a small crystal! How fascinating…”

Bow stepped closer to the crystal to get a better look as well. “If it’s a runestone, do you think it might…react to the runestone in Adora’s sword?” he asked thoughtfully.

Entrapta was slowly circling the crystal on her legs of hair now. “Possible,” she responded distractedly, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the gem. “The runestone in Adora’s sword previously channelled the powers of the other runestones in Etheria. It could have a similar effect on this one too.”

Adora untied the straps over her shoulders and reached behind herself for the case containing the pieces of her broken sword. She lowered the case onto the floor in front of her and opened its lid. Reaching inside, she lifted out the hilt of her sword containing the blue runestone and stood up. “Okay, so should I just…hold it up or something?”

“Bring it closer,” Entrapta instructed, wide eyes never leaving the crystal before her.

Holding out her sword hilt, Adora approached the crystal, carefully watching for any reaction from either of the runestones. Entrapta lowered herself on her legs of hair, drawing closer to the crystal to observe it more closely as well. Her face came within inches of the crystal, its reddish pink glow touching her features.

“Entrapta, be careful,” Adora warned, watching her hover disconcertingly close to the crystal. “We don’t know what this crystal can-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the crystal began to glow and pulse brighter. Entrapta drew back instinctively. The crystal’s light grew in intensity, expanding into the surrounding space. The sound of the signal being emitted from it became deafening. Swift Wind swung his head from side to side and let out a cry of fear. Adora and Bow brought their hands up to their ears despite the protection from Entrapta’s sound-muffling devices.

“Whoah!” Bow cried out as he watched the crystal’s globe of light expanding in size toward them.

Entrapta’s pigtails swung over her front to cocoon both her and Imp on her shoulder protectively from the expanding light. Swift Wind dashed over to Adora and Bow and extended his wings over them and himself. Adora shielded her eyes with an arm from the glare of the expanding light.

“What’s happ-” she started to say.

She was cut off as the light of the crystal engulfed the temple hall, then shrank back down suddenly into a swirling, crackling circle of reddish pink light hanging in the air before them. The air around them picked up speed, but then settled into undulating currents as the force of the portal’s pull quickly stabilised. A cerise-coloured energy vortex was left floating before them.

Entrapta’s pigtails had parted to allow her to peer out from her hair cocoon at the otherworldly phenomenon. “Wooow!” she emitted in wonder.

“A portal…,” Adora stated in amazement. She looked down at her sword hilt. “I think my runestone still works,” she concluded. “I think it activated the Chaos Crystal...”

“But where does it go?” Bow queried, squinting at the swirling vortex of light.

“To the home world of the First Ones: Eternia,” Entrapta answered, entranced at the sight of the portal.

Adora, Bow and Swift Wind looked at Entrapta.

“So, this portal would…take me back to where I came from? To the world of the First Ones?” Adora asked.

Entrapta looked back at her with excitement in her eyes. “I believe so! That’s what the Chaos Crystal was designed for! To create a bridge between Etheria and Eternia!”

Adora turned and went back to her sword case on the floor. Kneeling down, she placed her sword hilt back inside and shut it. She then swung the case onto her back and fastened the straps over her shoulders again. She rose to her feet, stepping forward.

“There’s no time to waste then,” she declared. “I have to go through and find my way to Greyskull to re-make the sword.”

“I’ll go with you,” Bow volunteered.

Adora looked at him firmly. “No, I’ll go alone. If anything goes wrong, we can’t afford to lose more of us.” She laid a hand on Bow’s shoulder. “You stay here with Entrapta and make sure the portal remains open for me.”

“Adora, I don’t know about this…,” Bow said doubtfully.

“Don’t worry, Bow. I’ll watch out for her,” Swift Wind interjected, trotting up beside Adora. Adora opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the alicorn, “And don’t bother trying to tell me not to come with you, because I’m your faithful steed that accompaniers you anywhere, She-Ra or not!” The alicorn lifted his head up defiantly.

Adora sighed, relenting, and placed a hand on the alicorn’s snout. A small smile broke upon her lips. “Thanks, Swift Wind.”

“I need to collect more data on the crystal and monitor the portal’s stability on this end!” Entrapta announced as she eagerly approached the crystal once again. “I have to know how exactly this runestone works!”

Adora nodded to Bow. “Entrapta’s right. You and her should stay here and learn how this runestone works whilst I test the portal.”

“But what if it’s not safe?” Bow tried to protest.

Entrapta’s pointed finger shot upwards without her turning away from the crystal. “All scientific experimentation carries an element of risk!” she stated boldly.

“We don’t have any more time to wait, and we’ll never know until we try,” Adora reasoned. Her gaze at Bow softened. “It’s going to be okay, Bow. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll be back soon.”

Bow nodded reluctantly. “Be careful, Adora.”

Adora embraced him. “Look after Entrapta.” She looked over at the long-haired princess whose back was turned to them as she gazed mesmerized at the Chaos Crystal, oblivious to everything else happening around her. 

Adora then turned toward the portal. Swift Wind came to stand beside her.

“Ready when you are, Adora,” he announced.

Adora nodded and pulled herself onto his back.

“Okay. Let’s do this, Swift Wind,” she said with a pat to the side of his thick neck.

Spreading his wings, Swift Wind took off into the portal with Adora. They flew straight into the swirling circle of reddish pink energy and vanished.

After they had disappeared, Bow watched the portal for a few moments more. “You think they’ll be okay, Entrapta?” he asked.

Instead of a response, the sound of something falling and hitting the floor hit his ears. He whipped round to see what it was, but as soon as he did, he gasped.

“ **Entrapta!** ” he shouted in alarm.

The archer ran over to the crumpled body of the Princecss of Dryl, lying limp on the ground beneath the radiant glow of the Chaos Crystal. She had collapsed face-down, her long lilac hair strewn around her. He reached down and gently turned her over so that he could see her face. Her eyes were shut and her breaths were shallow.

Adora and Swift Wind floated through a tunnel of swirling cerise light. For an indeterminable amount of time, they continued to glide forward through the light tunnel. On occasion, Adora thought she saw tears in the swirling walls of the tunnel, gaps torn through the portal energy that allowed her to see into the wider universe beyond. She glimpsed countless stars in the black expanse of outer Space, luminous clouds of nebulae, other moons and giant stars, other worlds...

“Swift Wind, are you seeing all this?” Adora asked breathlessly.

“I see it,” the alicorn replied. “I just don’t believe it.”

“This is the universe beyond Etheria,” Adora thought aloud. “We’ve actually left Etheria…No wonder Entrapta wanted to build a portal before…It’s incredible…”

“Adora, look,” Swift Wind suddenly said.

Adora looked ahead. “What is it?”

Then she saw it, a figure floating in the distance, seemingly curled up into a ball. As Adora and Swift Wind drew nearer, they saw that the figure was female with long, flowing hair. She was wrapped in something translucent sprouting from her back: wings, Adora finally realised. Her face lit up as she recognised who it was.

“Queen Angella!” she called out to the curled-up woman.

She almost couldn’t believe it. Queen Angella was alive!

The curled queen did not show any sign that she had heard her though. She did not look up and was talking to herself. “It was a mistake…”

Adora called out again. “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

Again, Angella gave no response to Adora’s calls, continuing instead to babble to herself. “I had to…I had to…I was protecting her…”

As she and Swift Wind closed in on the position of the former queen of Bright Moon, Adora reached out and took hold of her shoulders, looking at the older woman in concern.

“Your Majesty?” she said carefully.

“I kept her safe…,” the queen mumbled, face covered by her white gloved hands.

She was talking about Glimmer, Adora deduced.

“Your Majesty, listen! You need to go back home! To Glimmer! She needs you!” she exclaimed, gripping the immortal queen’s shoulders more tightly.

Angella lifted head out of her hands slightly. “Glimmer…,” she uttered, “oh Glimmer…”

“Your Majesty, you need to go back!” Adora repeated. “Glimmer needs you! And King Micha too!”

Angella’s head lifted up completely, finally looking into Adora’s face. A spark slowly seemed to grow in her dull, grey eyes. “Micah?”

“Yes, he’s alive!” Adora cried forcefully. “And he’s waiting for you back in Bright Moon!”

Colour seemed to seep back into Angella’s lifeless, grey eyes. She stared at Adora as if she might have been a dream. Her eyes widened and her wings dropped from around herself. “Adora…can it be?”

Adora and Swift Wind were hovering together with Angella now.

“Yes, it’s me, Your Majesty,” Adora confirmed with a smile, taking hold of the queen’s gloved hand. 

“How…?” Angella asked, almost in disbelief.

“We opened a portal to Eternia. I have to go there,” Adora answered.

“A portal…to Eternia?” Angella repeated.

“Yes, I have to go there now,” Adora reiterated. “But you’re needed back home. You have to return to Bright Moon.”

“Bright Moon…yes…,” Angella repeated again.

Adora pointed behind her in the direction she and Swift Wind had come from. “Follow the portal back. Go, Your Majesty. I’ll see you again soon.” Adora gently pushed the queen in the right direction.

“Adora…” Adora looked curiously at the queen as she said her name. There was a sombre expression on Angella’s face. “Take care. Eternia…has great dangers...”

Adora looked at the queen in confusion. “What great dangers? What do you me-?”

Without warning, Angella’s wings spread and she was seemingly dragged away by the pull of the portal’s energies. She was lifted up and away from Adora and Swift Wind.

“Come back to us, Adora,” Angella called to her as she was pulled away. “Come back to us…”

Adora and Swift Wind, now being propelled forward, looked back at the immortal angelic queen. Her translucent wings were fully spread as she soared back the way they had come through the portal.

Bow was on his knees, looking down anxiously at the unconscious Princess of Dryl lying on the ground. Imp, on all fours next to her face, was whimpering and patting her face desperately like a distressed animal cub.

“Entrapta, please wake up!” Bow pleaded. He brought a hand up to her forehead, brushing aside her lilac bangs. “Please be okay.”

He looked up at the brightly glowing oval crystal above them on the metal column. “She was looking at the crystal…,” he thought aloud. “Maybe she got too close…”

Suddenly, there was a flash of light from the still open portal before them. Bow shielded his eyes instinctively.

“What-?” he began.

The portal’s cerise energies expanded then contracted as a winged figure emerged from it. The figure appeared to glide out of the swirling energies on spread wings before abruptly descending inelegantly to the ground. The figure crashed to the floor and the portal shrank rapidly, diminishing to the size of a small ball then finally disappearing out of existence. The winged figure was left hunched on the floor of the temple. Bow’s mouth fell open as he recognised the figure. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

“Queen Angella…,” he uttered in shock, “you’re…back…”

The winged queen of Bright Moon looked up at him tiredly. A weak moan was all that she emitted: “Uhh…”

“Your Majesty!” Bow exclaimed.

He dashed forward at once as he saw her fall forward, catching her just as she collapsed in exhaustion. He held her for a moment before carefully helping her to sit back, supporting her with both arms. Despite her evident weakness, she was still conscious, though her eyes were heavy.

“Just take it easy, Your Majesty,” he said as calmly as he could. “You’re going to be okay.”

Angella slowly brought a hand to her head and squeezed her eyes shut momentarily, as if to regain her senses. She then looked at Bow weakly. “Bow…where is Glimmer?”

Bow didn’t answer her immediately as he considered his reply.

“Your Majesty, you’ve been gone for a while,” he said carefully. “A lot has happened…”

“How long-?” Angella began to ask, but faltered when she caught sight of something. A look of dread manifested on her face. Her mouth fell open. “No…it cannot be…”

Bow followed the direction of her gaze and saw what she was staring at: the Chaos Crystal. He looked back at her in confusion. “Your Majesty? What’s wrong?”

“Where are we?!” she asked suddenly, grabbing hold of his arms and looking at him in a panicked manner.

“We’re on…Beast Island,” Bow answered quickly, taken aback by her sudden, inexplicable fear. “It’s kind of a long story…”

Angella’s eyes widened. “We should not be here! We must leave at-”

She stopped abruptly as her eyes landed on something else, something lying on the floor a short distance away: the unconscious Princess of Dryl. The angelic queen began to shake her head slowly, as if in disbelief. The only words coming out of her mouth:

“No…no…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Angella's back! Things are taking off now in the story, and there's some shockers in store!
> 
> Next chapter: 'Greyskull'!


	10. Greyskull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora, in search of a way to re-make the sword of She-Ra, finds herself no longer on Etheria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second update of the week! This chapter's longer than usual. Its title may have tipped you off, but there's a crossover!
> 
>  **Warning** : there is implication of heavy adult themes of harm in this chapter. It's indirect, but if you don't want to read that kind of stuff, you can avoid this chapter.
> 
> Having mentioned that, this chapter is dedicated to anyone who has ever been hurt by others. You survived and you continue to live your life. You are still you, and you will always have worth. No-one can ever take that away.

A bright light dazzled her as soon as she opened her eyes. The harshness of the light forced her to shut them again. She brought a hand over her eyes and opened them once more, just a crack. The brightness seeped through her fingers, poking through into her vision again.

Groggily, Adora sat up, groaning. She blinked a few times and looked around herself. Trees, all around. Leaves under her fingers. She looked up again. The sky was…yellow. Trees hung over her. The bright light she had been blinded by was shining through the branches, its rays of light were warm on her skin. What was it?

She heard movement beside her and turned to see Swift Wind rousing as well. “Ohhh, what hit me?” he moaned.

“Swift Wind, are you alright?” Adora asked.

“Uhhh. I’ll let you know when my head stops spinning,” he groaned.

Adora glanced around at their forested surroundings again. “We must have fallen out of the portal,” she guessed.

Swift Wind took in their wooded surroundings as well. “Sooo, did we make it? Is this Eternia?”

“I’m not sure,” Adora replied.

“And if this is Eternia, are we anywhere near Greyskull?”

“I don’t know, Swift Wind,” Adora replied again.

Swift Wind looked skyward. “And did we have a plan for getting back to Etheria? Coz…I’m not seeing a portal anymore.”

“For the last time, Swift Wind, I DON’T KNOW!” Adora snapped in exasperation.

Then she stopped and looked up at the sky as well. There was no sign of a portal anymore as Swift Wind had said. Her eyes lowered back down to the ground and she sighed heavily.

Swift Wind stared at her, apparently unimpressed. “I’m starting to think this wasn’t exactly a well-thought out plan.”

A rustling sound emerging from the trees caught Adora’s attention. She turned her head to it. “Shh! What’s that?”

Neither Adora nor her winged steed moved as they listened again. A movement in the branches of a nearby tree drew their eyes toward it. There on a branch, a slender golden falcon perched, watching them silently.

“It’s a…bird,” Swift Wind said blandly.

Adora eyed the falcon as it watched her in return. “Weird. It’s just staring at us.”

“Hey, maybe Eternian wildlife can talk!” Swift Wind rose onto his hooves. “Let me try communicating with it!”

Adora stood as well. “Err…”

Swift Wind trotted forward toward the perched falcon. “Hello, fellow avian creature, I am Swift Wind! I have travelled with my human companion from afar to seek a place of power called Greyskull.”

Without warning, the falcon leapt off the branch and flew off.

“Well, that was rude,” Swift Wind remarked.

The falcon circled above them, crying out. Adora watched it.

“What’s it doing?” she wondered aloud.

The falcon seemed to look down at them, then flew off in a direction.

Adora made a quick decision and began to jog after it.

“I’m going to follow it,” she announced, moving quickly. “It might lead us out of this forest.”

“Hey, wait!” Swift Wind called after her, but to no avail. He ran after her.

Adora kept her eyes trained on the golden falcon as it flew steadily forward. Along with Swift Wind, she followed it through the forest, jumping over tree roots and pushing stray branches and bushes out of the way. They ran until they were out of breath, reaching what seemed to be the edge of the forest. Beyond the trees, a large structure came into view in the distance.

Adora cried out in shock as she skidded to a stop just before the edge of a steep drop. She threw an arm out to halt Swift Wind from going any further too.

“Hey, what-” he began to say, but cut himself off when he looked over Adora’s shoulder at the steep drop of a cliffside beneath them. “Oh…”

Together, they looked out across a wide, empty moat surrounding the ruins of an ancient castle structure. The castle, old and worn, had four towers at each of four corners. And set in the front of the castle was a moss-coated wooden drawbridge framed by the giant jaws of a monstrous skull carved out of the stone wall.

“Whoah! Is that…?” Swift Wind began to ask.

“Castle Greyskull…” Adora breathed.

Above them, the falcon flew toward the castle, coming to land above the monstrous skull framing the entrance. As it did, the drawbridge lowered across the moat, forming a bridgeway into the castle.

Adora and Swift Wind looked at one another.

“I suppose we’re going into the scary old castle then?” Swift Wind sighed, already anticipating the answer.

“We have to,” Adora said determinedly.

She proceeded toward the lowered drawbridge. Swift Wind followed behind her. Together, they crossed the drawbridge into the open castle.

It was dark inside as they entered the castle. And as they walked further in, they heard the drawbridge being lifted again and closing shut behind them. They were plunged into total darkness.

Before they could react, countless blue and pink lights appeared everywhere around them, illuminating their surroundings in a sea of blue and pink stars. The coloured lights ran under their feet and along walls and pillars.

Adora and Swift Wind stared, open-mouthed, at the mine of glowing crystals around them. They were standing in an ancient grand hall filled with blue and pink crystals reminiscent of First Ones’ tech on Etheria. It was like a cross between a palace hall, a temple and a cave. The curved walls, lined with long stone pillars, extended far over their heads into a domed ceiling that stretched like a night sky above them. Embedded blue and pink crystals shone like unmined gems throughout every surface. And at the centre of the domed ceiling, a large, dual-coloured, blue and pink, diamond-shaped crystal hung prominently.

“This…this is incredible!” Adora gasped.

“Princess Entrapta would have a field day here!” Swift Wind remarked.

“Adora…”

An echoing female voice made Adora whirl around to locate the source of it.

“Who…Who’s there?” she demanded.

“Do not be alarmed,” the voice stated calmly. “I am the sentient consciousness of Castle Greyskull and the Keeper of its secrets. I am known as the **Sorceress**.”

“Sorceress?” Adora repeated. “So…it was you that led us here…by some kind of magic?”

“Magic, sorcery, science, technology…many names are used for power,” the ‘Sorceress’ responded, “but energy is energy, whether from sorcery or science. And there is precious little left on Eternia. This place, Castle Greyskull, is one of the few remaining reservoirs of ancient power left. I used the energy stored here to reach out to you.”

Bow had told her once before how ‘magic and tech weren’t completely separate things’, Adora recalled, how Entrapta had been one of the few people on Etheria that truly understood that.

Something else was bothering Adora too though. The echoing voice of the Sorceress sounded eerily familiar…like…

“Light Hope…” The name of the A.I. program that had once trained her fell out of Adora’s mouth. “You…sound like Light Hope.”

There was a pause. Then suddenly, the large, dual-coloured crystal hanging from the ceiling began to glow brightly, and a transparent, blue and pink image of a winged woman, wearing what appeared to be a falcon-inspired headdress and outfit, manifested directly underneath it, causing Adora and Swift Wind to step back in surprise.

“I am not Light Hope,” the winged female hologram stated. “Light Hope was an A.I. program developed from my core characteristics long ago. I am her source, her mother program.”

“Her…mother program?” Adora repeated in shock. “You mean Light Hope…came from you?”

The blue and pink female hologram fritzed and blurred for a split second before replying:

“Yes, during the time of your predecessor, Mara, Light Hope was developed by ancient Eternians from my schematics for the purpose of watching over her as she was sent to Etheria to accomplish the Heart of Etheria project.”

“You…you let them make another free-thinking program from you? Why?” Adora questioned in disbelief.

The Sorceress lifted her head, seemingly looking over Adora at something unknown.

“They had been fighting a terrible war for eons and were determined to have their weapon to end their war. They needed Mara, She-Ra, to be moulded to their purposes. Light Hope was their way of accomplishing that. And I was powerless to stop them. My choice in the matter was irrelevant.”

A look of realisation dawned on Adora’s face. “They…they took from you…”

The Sorceress’ head fell, her eyes shielded from view by her headdress. “As I said, my choice in the matter was irrelevant. And they are all long gone now.”

There was silence as Adora and Swift Wind looked at the winged female hologram, robbed of words.

Then the Sorceress continued as if nothing had happened: “I detected Etheria’s teleportation out of the shadow dimension of Despondos and re-emergence into the universe. I can only presume that it was the doing of my daughter program, Light Hope.”

“Light Hope…she…she was going to activate the Heart of Etheria…,” Adora said slowly. “It would have destroyed our world and others…but…in the end…she let me destroy it...” Her words grew quieter. “She let me destroy…the sword…to stop it…” Tears began to form in her eyes. “She…she was my friend…and Mara’s…in the end…”

The Sorceress was leaning forward toward her now, her transparent hand reaching for her cheek, touching it. “I owe you a debt of gratitude, Adora.”

Adora looked at her uncomprehendingly. “Why? I-…she’s gone…because of me…”

The Sorceress’ eyes, reminiscent of Light Hope’s, was looking into her own now. “She was re-programmed by the ancients to control She-Ra into activating the Heart of Etheria weapon. You **saved** her from that destiny. For that, I can only thank you.”

Adora squeezed her eyes shut as a single tear escaped from one eye and rolled down her cheek.

“I know you are here now because you wish to mend the sword,” the Sorceress said gently, letting her hand fall from Adora’s cheek, “because you wish to save your world again.”

Adora’s hand came up to wipe the tears from her eyes with the heel of her palm.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

She reached for the case she had been carrying behind her and set it down on the floor. Kneeling before it, she opened it and reached inside to pull out the hilt of her broken sword. She held it carefully in her hands as she addressed the Sorceress again:

“Horde Prime and his army have invaded Etheria. We have no way to stop him.”

“I am aware of the Horde’s arrival on Etheria,” the Sorceress stated. “They will attempt to conquer it and make it a part of their expanding galactic empire.”

Adora nodded with a serious expression. She held the sword hilt out in her hands toward the Sorceress. “I need to become She-Ra again to defend Etheria. Can you help me fix it, Sorceress?”

The Sorceress’ gaze fell upon the broken sword hilt. “Perhaps. But only you have the ability to re-make the sword.”

Adora blinked. “What do you mean?”

The Sorceress looked up at her again. “There was a reason Light Hope chose **you** to bring to Etheria.”

Adora looked at her in surprise. “You…know about that?”

A subtle smile appeared on the Sorceress’ lips. “Yes. I have known about you since you and your twin brother were born.”

Adora felt her heart stop. “My…twin brother?”

“Yes, Adora,” the Sorceress replied. “You have a brother here on Eternia.”

Adora felt her whole body become numb. A brother…

The Sorceress raised an arm and two small holographic figures of children, one blue and one pink, materialised in the air before Adora.

“You and your brother are of the royal House of Randor, the prophesized Twins of Power,” the Sorceress proceeded to explain. “He was to carry the Sword of Power, and you the Sword of Protection, like the blade-bearers before you.”

Twin images of gold swords appeared above the two children.

“Together, you would wield the power of Greyskull between you.”

The Sorceress waved her hand and the images of the twin children and swords disappeared, and were replaced by the image of a pink planet accompanied by moons.

“The ancients needed a being strong enough to withstand the destructive power of the Heart of Etheria in order to deploy it.”

Lines of red light appeared throughout the pink planet, and a long-haired, gold female figure holding up a sword materialised next to it.

“They selected She-Ra to be the key to their weapon. After Mara turned against them, Light Hope had to find another being to succeed her as She-Ra. And she found you.”

The Sorceress faced Adora again.

“You were taken from your home as a baby through a portal, so that you could be trained to be the next She-Ra and take up the Sword of Protection, eventually to be used to activate the Heart of Etheria.”

The Sorceress glided closer to Adora.

“You were born to have power, Adora. That was why Light Hope chose to abduct you to Etheria. She needed your potential and capacity for power.”

Adora stared at her. “My…power?”

The Sorceress waved away the holographic images of the pink planet and the gold female warrior, but left behind a gold sword, enlarging it.

“The Sword of Protection you have been wielding was forged by the ancients to control She-Ra’s power, to make her part of their weapon,” she explained. “But both Mara and you have resisted that destiny.”

She turned fully to face Adora again. “The question now is: what will you do with your power?”

“But…I have no power…,” Adora protested. “The sword was the source of my power. It was what transformed me into She-Ra.”

The Sorceress’ hand came down upon Adora’s shoulder, surprising her. “No. You do not **need** the sword. The sword needs **you**.”

Madame Razz’s words echoed in Adora’s mind:

_“She-Ra is not a sword! She-Ra is you!”_

The Sorceress looked directly into Adora’s face. “ **You** are She-Ra. **You** hold the power, the power to rise above obstacles, to seek the truth, to pursue your own destiny.”

Adora looked down at the broken sword hilt in her hands, focusing on the blue runestone set within it.

“Look within yourself, Adora,” the Sorceress instructed. “Look past your fears, embrace all that you are, and seek what it is that matters most to you. In that, you will find what you need.”

Adora shut her eyes. “What matters most to me…”

Memories of Glimmer, Bow, the princesses and Queen Angella flashed through her mind’s eye.

“My friends…all my friends…,” she whispered, “the people I care about, who I want to protect…who stood with me…who cared about me…”

An image of her old friends from the Horde entered her mind: Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio…

“who…wouldn’t let me go…”

…and Catra…

“even when they should have…”

Adora felt something rising within her, a feeling, growing in intensity and filling her entire being. The words seemed to come out of her mouth of their own will:

“For the honour…of Greyskull…”

The feeling was a wave now, and it washed through her, spreading out from her solar plexus into her legs, her chest, her arms and her head. It energized every part of her. She felt it escape through her fingertips and feet, radiating like heat from her skin. It was a power that was uncontainable, but at the same time, natural and gentle. It felt…liberating.

The power flowed out of Adora hands and into the broken sword hilt, collecting into the sword’s blue runestone. The runestone glowed, energy gathered around the sword hilt. A blade of light manifested and grew from the hilt, increasing in length until it was as long as Adora’s arm.

The power subsided and Adora gasped as her eyes flew open. She looked down into her hands and saw a new, long, slender blade lying there. The blue runestone glowed within a re-shaped sword handle that fitted perfectly in her grasp. She caught her reflection in the sword’s blade and saw that her hair was glowing a bright blonde once again. She tilted the reflective blade to look further down at herself and saw that she was dressed in white and gold colours again as well. Her garments were altered though: gold armour encased her upper body, a gold gladiatorial skirt hung down over her white-legging covered thighs, and gold bracelets protected her lower arms. White patterns and highlights ran throughout her gold armour and skirt.

“Did…I do all this?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yes, you did,” the Sorceress answered.

Adora looked up at her. “All this time…I thought my power came from the sword…”

“The sword was only ever an extension of your power,” the Sorceress replied. “The true power always lay within you.”

The Sorceress raised her hand to Adora. “Arise now, She-Ra, Princess of Power.”

Adora rose to her feet.

“Your fate is in your own hands now,” the Sorceress declared. “And it is up to you to use your power wisely.”

In front of the Sorceress, a holographic line of gold female warriors carrying swords manifested.

“She-Ra has existed since the earliest times of the Ancients and will continue to do so after you.”

Two of the gold female warriors were enlarged and transformed into images of Mara and Adora herself in their She-Ra forms, long golden hair flowing out above their heads.

“Your predecessor, Mara, sacrificed herself to preserve Etheria. What legacy will you leave behind for your successor, Adora?”

The Sorceress touched the image of another gold female warrior and it enlarged into a silhouette of reddish pink light, taking the form of a tall woman with hair that ran down to the ground.

Adora eyes widened. “Successor? How can you know-”

“You will see in time, Adora,” the Sorceress interrupted. “But now you must make haste. The fate of both our worlds hangs in the balance. A terrible secret is about to be revealed, and a power that was hidden is soon to be unleashed.”

“What secret? What power?” Adora questioned urgently.

“You must stop her,” the Sorceress urged, “before her power is activated and our worlds destroyed.”

Adora tried to ask: “Who? Who are you talk-”

The Sorceress seemed to look at Adora sadly. “Someone near to you, linked to both our worlds, and to you by bloodline, a forgotten one...”

Before Adora could question further, the Sorceress raised a hand to the side and suddenly a ball of white light materialised in the air. It expanded in size to become a swirling vortex of energy.

“A portal…,” Adora observed in shock.

“It will take you back to Etheria,” the Sorceress informed.

Adora looked at her, frustration on her face. “There’s still so much I wanted to know.”

“In time,” the Sorceress reassured. “Go now, She-Ra, before it is too late.”

Adora looked at Swift Wind behind her and he nodded back to her. He stepped forward to join her by her side.

She turned to the Sorceress again. “Thank you, Sorceress.”

She proceeded to mount Swift Wind and rode on his back toward the portal.

“She-Ra…”

At the call of her title, Adora stopped Swift Wind and turned to look back at the Sorceress.

“Good and evil, love and hate, they are not separate, and we are all capable of them,” the Sorceress echoed. “Remember that.” She smiled a sad smile. “Farewell.”

The winged hologram raised a hand to the portal and the pull of its forces increased. Adora and Swift Wind felt themselves drawn toward it like magnets and, together, they were swallowed up by its swirling light.

They disappeared and the Sorceress closed her raised hand into a fist. The portal shrank and began to close as well. In its diminishing light, the winged hologram gazed back at the reddish pink holographic image of Adora’s long-haired successor, a heavy expression entering her face.

“And thus from love, sin is born,” she lamented. “It is inevitable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adora's new She-Ra armour is sort of based on the gold armour she wore in the first season finale, but with a splash of Wonder Woman's Amazon-style skirt thrown in.
> 
> I'm not expecting an actual appearance from He-Man in the upcoming final season, but it'd be nice to have a reference to him somehow. Going into Masters of the Universe territory in this chapter was pretty ambitious for me. My initial ideas of the Sorceress were heavily based on the 2002 He-Man cartoon series. Linking her to Light Hope was something that made sense in some ways, given their parallel roles as mystical advisers to He-Man and She-Ra respectively, and it was a way to give some insight into Light Hope's backstory too. I'd love to hear what readers thoughts are on my re-imagining of the Sorceress here.
> 
> And Adora's successor was based an idea I had for a future-set series that I probably will never get round to writing, but the concept of this future She-Ra was pretty fun to conceive. You might already have guessed my idea for her based on my brief descriptions.
> 
> Next chapter, back to Beast Island!


	11. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new dream and the return of Queen Angella prompts Entrapta to seek answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just seen the trailer for S5, and I'm stoked (and a little nervous)! I've got a few theories on how things might work out in the end. In fact, I'm thinking of maybe writing a short S5 finale prediction fic.
> 
> Anyway, things are getting interesting with this update.
> 
> Thanks again to you wonderful kudos and comment-leavers and anyone who has been following this story!

_A tunnel of moving light, blue energy cascading like a curtain of waterfalls around her. She was falling through a portal, though it felt more like she was floating. To where, she was not sure. She looked ahead. A giant dark grey spaceship came into view. On its top was a red Horde insignia...Hordak’s…She reached out instinctively, fingers stretching toward the red Horde wings…The fact that her fingers were larger and longer than they should have been was insignificant. All she wanted was to reach him…but he was beyond her reach. She shut her eyes, wondering how long she would fall for, maybe forever...Her outstretched arm dropped and she gave in to the pull of forces greater than her, submitting herself to an unknown fate…_

_Then the lash of rapid air currents hit her, jolting her out of her daze. Before she realised what was happening, she plunged into water, ice cold, a thousand frozen needles stabbing her all over. Her eyes snapped open. White clouds of bubbles filled her vision. Submerged underwater, she tried to swim back up to the surface, but the water currents dragged her down. She was panicking and wanted to scream. Her mouth opened, filling with water. No sound came out. She reached a hand up to a diminishing source of light shining through the waves above her. She was done for. She was going to drown._

_A shadow appeared in front of the light, the silhouette of a woman, wings spread from her sides. An angel. She seemed to be flying overhead, then she dove downwards, breaking through the water toward her..._

_The angel’s hands grabbed onto her shoulders and she felt herself being lifted through the currents, dragged back toward the surface...Her face broke through the top of the water and she gasped for air. The angel was pulling her back to a shore in the distance._

_She was pulled onto grass. Trees appeared over her. The angel’s face came into her vision, but she could not discern her features clearly. All she could make out were her purplish-grey eyes. They were looking down at her in concern. She thought they were beautiful._

_She blinked slowly. When her eyes opened again, the scene had changed and she found herself standing in woodland. The trees around her were sparkling with unknown energy. She reached out and touched the glowing trunk of a tree with a hand that was larger than it should have been, a man’s hand…She could feel the energy radiating from the tree, magical energy…_

_“Incredible…” The word came out of her mouth by itself. She did not recognise the voice that spoke it though. It was not her own. It was a man’s voice, higher-pitched, a hint of scratchiness…_

_The angel appeared by her side again, seemingly smiling at her. Entrapta raised her large, masculine hand to her and she took it. Hand-in-hand, they began to run through the magical trees, laughing._

_Again, she blinked slowly. This time, when her eyes opened, she saw a wall of fire. Trees were burning before her. She was still in the woods, but it was in flames. She moved back, away from the heat and the smoke. The sounds of machinery could be heard nearby. She turned toward the sounds. Into her view came military tanks, robot drones and uniformed soldiers emblazoned with red winged Horde symbols. They were firing their laser weapons at the trees, setting more of them alight. She noticed the angel beside her, watching the destruction quietly._

_Her eyes closed and opened to see the angel standing before her. They were on a large balcony, the night sky above them. The angel’s face was still unclear, but she could feel emotions, strong ones, deep ones, coming from her. Her lips were curled in a soft smile. Her purple-grey eyes were shining. She watched the man’s large hands rise in front of her, toward the angel. They were holding something. His long, elegant fingers unfurled to reveal a diamond-shaped, fuchsia-coloured crystal, First Ones’ sigils inscribed along its face, glowing gently. The angel’s face lit up, both in expression and from the crystal’s light that flooded up over her cheeks. Her breaths seemed to slow as the man’s hands slowly pressed the crystal into her palms, then closed her hands together over the gem. His larger hands encompassed hers, holding them between his own. Her face seemed to draw nearer, her purple-grey gaze holding hers intently. Their joined hands were folded between them as their faces closed in on one another._

_When her eyes opened again, she was standing in a large garden. Ahead of her, the angel was standing amongst rose bushes, looking out at a giant opal gem in the distance that was as bright and beautiful as the moons of Etheria. Her vision fixed on the huge, radiant gem for a long moment. So much light and beauty and power…fascinating…so full of potential…She was moving toward the angel’s back now. The angel turned to face her with a smile. As she did, she revealed a rounded and swollen belly. Her hands rested over the prominent bulge. The man’s hand rose to the swollen belly and rested upon it as well. She felt herself…him smiling._

_Again, her eyes closed and opened. This time, she was in a dark lab. Equipment and machinery surrounded her. Cables ran overhead along the ceiling and around her feet on the floor, power surging through them toward the centre of the lab where a metal column stood. At the top of the column was a small, oval-shaped crystal, pulsing with cerise-coloured energy. She focused on it. She could make out tiny, vague First Ones’ symbols within it. Its reddish pink aura seemed to grow larger as more power poured into it from the supplying cables feeding into its support column. She felt excitement rising in her as she watched the crystal absorbing more power…limitless power…_

_The next time her eyes opened, she was in a brightly-decorated room. She saw the angel again. She was leaning over a basket, carefully lifting something out of it: a small bundle wrapped in light purple cloth. She approached her to look at the small bundle in her arms as she unwrapped the top of it. The small, rounded face of a baby was revealed. Its eyes opened. They were a striking magenta colour, deep red fused with a prominent purple._

_And again, her eyes shut and opened. Now she was watching the angel, leaning over a round table, surrounded by a group of other women. They were focused on a holographic screen at the centre of the table. On the screen, images of terror and widespread destruction played: Horde-marked tanks, robots and soldiers marching into settlements, citizens running in fear, their homes in flames._

_Her eyes opened, and she was looking into the small face of the baby, wrapped in its light purple cloth, its large magenta eyes looking up at her brightly. She brought a long finger, that of the unknown man, to the baby’s nose, touching it lightly. The baby giggled and grabbed the finger with little ones. Then, with the man’s arms, she lowered the baby onto a metal table. She turned away and several computer screens with a control board appeared. Her, the man’s, long fingers tapped at the controls. She turned back to look at the baby she had laid down. A mechanical arm, cables running through it, lowered from the ceiling toward the baby’s head. Held at the tip of the mechanical arm was the small, oval-shaped, cerise-coloured crystal, glowing with energy. The baby reached up for it, entranced by its beauty._

_“You will be so much more,” the man’s high-pitched voice whispered from her lips, “a link between our worlds.”_

_She watched herself, him, grab hold of a lever next to her and pull it back. Energy began to flow through the cables in the mechanical arm, and suddenly, the crystal’s cerise glow grew brighter. It was charging up, power gathering within it. Then a focused beam shot out of it at the baby’s forehead. The baby’s entire body was encompassed by a cerise light. Its eyelids lowered, seeming to grow heavy. There was movement under the light purple cloth around the baby’s head. The cloth loosened and strands of lilac-coloured hair emerged from the baby’s head, moving with a life of its own._

_Then the sound of doors opening. She looked to a doorway. There the angel stood, shock and horror radiating from her._

_“Wait!” she cried out in the man’s voice. “The process is not-”_

_The angel’s wings spread and she dived for the baby. In the same instant, she watched herself crash into the angel, grabbing hold of her wrists. The angel struggled in her grip. Then the angel’s body suddenly began to glow, emitting a bright light, blinding in its intensity. Her hands came up to shield her eyes. Then she was shoved backwards violently. She felt as well as heard a loud bang as she connected with machinery behind her. Pain shot down through her entire back. Her eyes squeezed shut. She groaned in his voice. She heard the clang and clash of tools and equipment coming down, metal creaking…Her eyes opened to see the mechanical arm knocked off-course, the red energy beam from the glowing crystal shooting in an uncontrolled line toward an exposed, crackling orb of energy…_

_“NO!” she felt the man scream from her throat._

_The beam struck the power source. A wave of energy burst out. An explosion of light. Whiteness. Searing pain. His agonised scream. Her face was burning, flesh being stripped away. She clutched at it. The light retreated. She couldn’t feel her face, the pain was excruciating. Her teeth were gritted. She forced her eyes open. Her hands lowered. The angel was holding the baby to her chest, looking at her paralysed, horrified. Her eyes fell to the floor…_

_She…he saw his reflection on the polished floor, a face from nightmares stared back up at her. Torn and burnt flesh, pieces of skin hanging off, bloodied eyes..._

_The boom of another explosion. She turned. A cerise-coloured mass of energy was forming in the air to her side, transforming into a swirling portal. It expanded, growing larger than her. She felt it drawing her in. She looked back at the angel and the baby. The baby was wailing now against the angel’s chest, its unusually long lilac hair flowing out in the whirling air currents. And in the angel’s purple-grey eyes, there was terror. The angel raised a hand at her and seemed to shout something, but it was lost as the portal’s light consumed her…_

Entrapta’s eyes opened slowly. There was something glowing brightly above her, radiating a reddish pink light. It seemed to tickle and warm her skin.

Then something small and round popped directly into her vision, blocking out the light. It was greenish-blue and had wings and a tail...

Imp?

He was on all fours, looking into her face. His wings, tail and pointy ears stood up in excitement. A happy chittering sound emitted from his mouth. She tried to smile at him, but her cheek muscles were slow to respond. They felt numb and stiff.

“You’re not […] any sense! Please […] calm down!”

“We have to […] out of here! She cannot […] here!”

Voices…From where? Everything was dulled, blurred. Her head throbbed. It felt like she had just awoken from a drugged state. She rolled her head to the side and Imp moved back.

“You’ve been trapped […] long time. […] confused.”

She tried to move her arms. They were heavy, sluggish. There was a strange, tingling sensation running through her body. It felt like a dull current was coursing through her, reaching out for something...Odd.

“No [...] don’t understand! […] should never […] been found! […] stayed hidden!”

She blinked. Her eyes felt wet. Slowly, she slid a hand up to her face, touching her forehead, then her eyes. It was damp on the side of one eye where a tear had rolled down…

“You’re not […] any sense!”

The dream…It had been so vivid…The feelings so real…Was she still dreaming? She felt…out of place somehow, like she wasn’t fully connected to herself…incomplete…missing something…

“You [...] trust me! […] must be removed […] at once!”

She shut her eyes and opened them again. No, she wasn’t dreaming. She was on Beast Island, on the floor of the First Ones’ temple…

“We can’t go […] now! Adora’s still […] portal!”

She rolled her head up again. Above her, the Chaos Crystal was glowing from its metal column, emanating a cerise light that felt warm against her skin. She had been studying the small, oval runestone closely…

“Adora…[…] should not […] gone through…”

Adora...she had been entering the portal to Eternia when she had reached for the crystal with her hair…then nothing. She’d dreamt that strange dream, then woken up here on the floor, head and body aching, hearing these voices...

“She left […] to mend the sword. […] save Etheria.”

A young male voice she recognised: Bow’s. She turned her head to it.

There were two figures. One was Bow, the other...a tall woman…with translucent wings…vaguely familiar…her hair pink and purple…like Bow and Adora’s princess friend…Glimmer…but longer and less sparkly…

It hit her: Queen Angella.

“Save Etheria?” she heard Queen Angella ask.

She had been in her dream, Entrapta realised, the angel…

But Entrapta had never personally met the queen of Bright Moon before. She had only seen her in pictures from her previous research into the runestones and kingdoms of Etheria. Queen Angella of the Kingdom of Bright Moon, connected to the powers of the Moonstone, an immortal angelic being who had led the first rebellion against the Horde over thirty years ago…

“The Horde, the **bigger** Horde is here,” Bow was explaining, hands raised for emphasis. “The real Horde leader, Horde Prime, has an army of battleships flying over Etheria as we speak. And…” He hesitated. “…he abducted Glimmer.”

Glimmer, Queen Angella and King Micah’s daughter, the princess of Bright Moon…But hadn’t Adora said that Glimmer was now queen of Bright Moon? Because Queen Angella had sacrificed herself to shut down the portal…the portal she and Hordak had built...But she was here now…not trapped between worlds…

“Glimmer?” Angella echoed, face seeming to pale even more than it naturally was. “She’s…being held by the Horde?”

The Chaos Crystal. They had opened a portal to Eternia with it. The queen must have found a way back through it…

“Yes. So we need to find a way to rescue her and fight back against the Horde,” Bow stated seriously. “Adora broke She-Ra’s sword saving our world from being turned into a First Ones’ weapon of mass destruction. She’s gone to find a way to mend it, so she can become She-Ra again.”

How had she come back? What was it like being trapped between worlds? Why had she dreamed of her? What did she know? She had so many questions…

Queen Angella was shaking her head. “This…this is all wrong…Glimmer…My Glimmer…”

But the queen was clearly engaged with Bow in a serious discussion now. She appeared distressed and Bow frustrated. Now was probably not the best time to interrupt…

“We’re going to get her back, Your Majesty,” Bow insisted. “As soon as Adora comes back-”

Using her hair and arms, Entrapta began to push herself up. Her head and body were responsive again.

“It was a mistake for you all to come here…,” Angella said in a low voice. “You should not have known about this place…”

Entrapta looked at the queen now, curiosity peaked.

“We came here before to rescue Entrapta,” Bow explained. “Hordak left her here. But she discovered this First Ones’ temple and decoded its secrets. We came back here and she helped us to find the Chaos Crystal and use it to open a portal to Eternia, where She-Ra’s sword came from.”

Angella, on her knees on the floor of the temple, looked up at Bow with a strange fear in her eyes. “It was not ever supposed to be found…She…was not supposed to…be here…”

“Why?”

The question took both Angella and Bow by surprise. They turned immediately to see the question-asker: the long-haired Princess of Dryl, now standing staring at them.

“Entrapta, you’re-” Bow started.

Entrapta did not respond to him as she began to walk toward them.

“Why was the Chaos Crystal not supposed to be found?” she questioned, directing her gaze at Angella.

Angella seemed unable to respond, frozen in place, staring back, wide-eyed, at Entrapta as she approached her.

“Why am I not supposed to be here?” Entrapta further questioned.

Angella’s mouth was open, but no words came out. She watched, seemingly petrified, as Entrapta came to a stop before her.

Entrapta looked inquisitively into her face. “What don’t I know…that I **should** know?”

Focused magenta eyes met stricken purple-grey ones as the Princess of Dryl confronted the Queen of Bright Moon:

“Tell me everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a big revelation coming up. That's all I'll say.
> 
> Next chapter, we return to the Horde!


	12. Surrender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer and Hordak have a heart-to-heart and the princesses have only one option left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably be able to get another two or three chapters up before S5 hits. After that, I'll likely take a week or so break in updates whilst we're all crying over the series' finale. It'll give me time to take stock of the events of the final season and make appropriate adjustments to my writing. I don't want to be copying the final events of the show exactly here, though I imagine I'll be incorporating some elements here and there.
> 
> Big thanks again to my followers and kudos and comment-leavers! It's so gratifying for me to hear that others are getting into my story writing. I hope to keep you all hooked and to deliver a few surprises.

Glimmer looked down at the white and grey Horde-made dress laid out before her on the bed. She sighed and closed her eyes, suppressing a feeling of frustration.

A sharp knock on her bedroom doors caused her to look up at them.

“Come in,” she answered.

The doors opened and the figure of a clone entered. At first, she thought that it was one of the clone attendants that had returned, but when the clone stepped through her doorway, she recognised his face and dark blue hair…

Hordak.

But, somehow, he looked…younger. And his eyes were bright green, like Horde Prime’s. No longer was she looking at the fearful lord of the Fright Zone who had tried to strike her down. She had known that he had been out of reconditioning for a while now, and that he and Catra had been sent back to Etheria to deliver Horde Prime’s invitation to the princesses, but she was surprised at how much he had changed. He was definitely larger and fuller in body size and mass than before. Even the features of his face seemed more…youthful.

He stopped before her and lowered himself onto one knee in a bow. She almost jumped back in surprise.

“Your Majesty, I have been sent to inform you that your fellow princesses have accepted the Emperor’s invitation to join us,” he said with all the grace and manner of a trained servant, still down on his knee.

“Oh, right!” Glimmer replied quickly. “Yes! I expected they would. It’s in all our best interests after all.” She was forcing conviction into her words.

“Indeed,” Hordak responded, still not making eye contact with the Bright Moon queen.

“Um, you can stand up now, you know,” she said awkwardly.

Hordak finally brought his bright green eyes up to her. Then he rose to his full height, towering over the young queen. She had to crane her neck back to look up at him.

“I’ll be ready to meet the princesses when-” she started to say.

Hordak interrupted her. “That will not be necessary. The Emperor has already assigned me to receive the princesses at the pick-up point.”

Glimmer paused, thinking. She had to try to be there to meet them when they arrived. She had to see if the plan was in play.

“But…they’ll be expecting to see me when they arrive,” she reasoned. “It would put them at ease.”

Hordak hesitated for a breath. “The Emperor has not given permission for you to set foot outside this ship.”

“Then I won’t,” Glimmer assured. “But I would like to be there to greet them, at least when they arrive on the ship if not outside of it.”

Hordak was silent for a moment before replying, “Very well. You may accompany me when I report to the Emperor and I shall inform him of your wish.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Glimmer said with a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Your thanks is unnecessary, Majesty,” Hordak replied with a dip of his head. “I am simply fulfilling my duty of care to you.”

She could hardly believe that she was talking to the same Hordak who had tried to smash her with a giant metal club in the Fright Zone not so long ago.

“Well, I like to thank people when they do something for me,” she insisted. “It’s just…good to acknowledge others’ efforts to make me happy.”

Hordak looked at her with an unreadable expression, as if she had said something strange. Then his eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly studying her more closely. Glimmer looked back at him curiously. Slowly, his hand rose up to the lower part of her hair, stopping short of touching it. His head tilted subtly to the side as he seemed to gaze intently at her hair. His thin dark lips opened.

“Purple…,” he murmured.

Glimmer glanced from the distant expression on his face to his outstretched hand hovering over the purple portion of her hair and back again. Strangely, she found herself unafraid of his proximity. In this moment, the one-time lord of the Fright Zone looked so…open…so…vulnerable. She wondered what he was thinking of.

“Are you alright?” she asked tentatively.

He blinked, shaken from his daze. His hand promptly withdrew and he looked away from her awkwardly. His gaze ended up landing on the white and grey dress laid out on her bed.

“You have not seen fit to wear the Emperor’s gift,” he observed, changing the topic. “Is it not to your specifications? It can be altered-”

Glimmer blinked at his sudden shift in focus. “No, no!” she quickly protested. “His gift is…appreciated, but I’m comfortable in my own garments for the time being.”

Hordak brought his gaze to her again, a softness now in his eyes. “As you wish. Though it would please the Emperor if you were to wear it.”

“Um, maybe later,” Glimmer replied less than eagerly, eyes shifting away.

There was a pause. Hordak watched the young queen as she seemed to stare at nothing in particular, her expression becoming thoughtful.

“Is there anything further I may assist you with, Majesty?” he asked courteously.

“No, not really…,” Glimmer replied. Then she looked up at Hordak again, “but maybe you could tell me something.”

“What do you wish to know?” Hordak asked.

Glimmer hesitated for a breath. “Are you…happy?”

There was a longer pause now.

“I do not understand the question,” Hordak finally replied.

“I mean, are you happy…here in the Horde? Serving Horde Prime?” Glimmer pressed nervously.

Hordak frowned and cast his gaze down. “My experience of positive emotions is of little importance or relevance.”

“But…are you…happy?” Glimmer asked again, punctuating her words for emphasis.

Another pause.

“…I am not unhappy,” Hordak replied with a downcast gaze. Then he looked up questioningly at the young queen. “Why is my mental welfare of interest to you?”

“Oh, no reason really,” Glimmer assured. “I just…wondered...You don’t seem to…do anything other than serve your Emperor.”

Hordak seemed to tense automatically. “Serving the Emperor is our duty and honour. It is what we were created to do.”

“Sure, of course. That’s admirable,” Glimmer carefully replied, “but…sometimes…well…people need to do things for themselves too. They can’t always just do things for others. Everyone has their own needs and wishes.”

“My wish is to serve my Emperor well,” Hordak stated. “And by extension of his wishes, you as well, Majesty.”

“That’s…great, Hordak, but-”

Hordak froze at the young queen’s words.

“Hordak…,” he repeated quietly, eyes narrowing. “The sorcerer King of Bright Moon called me by that name as well…”

Glimmer looked at him with wide eyes. “The sorcerer King of Bright Moon?”

“Yes,” he replied. “He bore a strong resemblance to you, though he was dark-haired.”

It was like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Glimmer found herself without breath.

“You…you don’t mean…my Dad, do you?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t want to allow herself to believe it, and yet… “You…saw my Dad? In Bright Moon?”

“It would appear so,” he restated.

Glimmer looked at the floor, processing the information. “But, it couldn’t be…My Dad died when I was little…”

“He appeared very much alive,” Hordak reported factually.

Glimmer’s curled hand rose up to her chest. “My Dad…alive…but how?”

“He mentioned…‘Beast Island’.” Hordak fell silent, focusing on a spot on the white floor, as if trying to remember something. Then he looked up at Glimmer again. “He claimed I sent him there, but that he had survived.”

Glimmer looked at him suddenly again with surprised eyes. “You…sent him to Beast Island? You didn’t…kill him?”

Hordak raised an eyebrow. “Should I have?”

“No, no, you shouldn’t have!” Glimmer said quickly, waving her hands rapidly before him. “You...just did something I wouldn’t have expected…” She paused, then was struck by another alarming thought. “But…is he okay now? Did he get hurt in Bright Moon? Did you-”

“I confronted him, but I left him unharmed,” Hordak replied quickly, as if sensing the queen’s sudden panic.

Her shoulders dropped in relief and she took a steadying breath. “Thank you. Thank you for not hurting him, Hordak.”

“I had no orders and no reason to,” Hordak countered, folding his arms behind his back and looking away uncomfortably from the young queen. “And it would have been potentially damaging to obtaining the willing cooperation of your fellow princesses.”

Glimmer looked at him, taking in his evasive body language and stiff posture. “Well, regardless of your reasons, I’m grateful.”

Hordak turned his head back to look at her curiously.

“I…wouldn’t have expected you to…spare him…” Glimmer explained quietly.

Hordak seemed to study the young queen silently for a few moments before cautiously saying, “You and your father…knew me…from before…You both have referred to me by the designation of ‘Hordak’…Why do you call me this?”

Glimmer blinked. “It…was your name…”

“Clones do not have names,” Hordak replied firmly.

“ **You** did. That’s what everyone on Etheria called you,” Glimmer said slowly.

Hordak looked down, thinking. “So…I had a name…and we were acquainted?”

“Not really, not closely,” Glimmer replied carefully. “We…knew of each other…”

Hordak raised his gaze to her again. “I am afraid I remember little from before my reconditioning. I retain only limited knowledge of Etheria.”

“Does…does that bother you?” Glimmer asked quietly.

“The Emperor deemed it necessary.” Hordak’s voice was toneless. “It is pointless to be…‘bothered’.”

Glimmer sat back onto her bed, next to her unworn Horde dress. “You know, I had family and friends back on Etheria. I often didn’t see eye-to-eye with them. I even fought with them, had a lot of arguments…” She was looking at the wall as she spoke.

Hordak frowned. “Such insubordination towards one’s queen should have been punished.”

Glimmer couldn’t stop a tiny smile manifesting on her lips at that. Of all people, Hordak, not Adora or Bow, her closest friends, was the only one that had taken her side on this. “Maybe. But…they were people I cared about, loved. I could never knowingly hurt them.”

The unreadable expression appeared again on Hordak’s face as he repeated a single word: “Hurt…”

“And, even though we fought,” Glimmer continued, “they’re still my family and friends. And I still love and care about them.”

She looked up at Hordak with a heavy smile. “Hordak, loving others doesn’t mean you always have to agree with them and do what they say. If they’re really your family and friends, they’d never want to hurt you or force you to do anything. And they’ll still love you no matter how many disagreements you have and mistakes you make. That’s what real love is all about.”

The unreadable expression on Hordak’s face shifted to one that seemed a mix of confusion and curiosity. “Love…”

Hordak was seemingly pulled out of his thoughts when something flashed on the armour of his wrist. He glanced down at it quickly.

“I am being summoned,” he announced. He looked at Glimmer again. “Are you ready to join me to see the Emperor now, Majesty?”

Glimmer’s expression became firm and she stood up from the bed. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Hordak nodded and turned, heading for the bedroom doors when Glimmer’s voice stopped him again: “Hordak…”

He halted and glanced back at her. There was a strange look of sadness on her face that made her appear older somehow.

“We weren’t on the same side,” she confessed, eyes down then lifting again to his, “but…I now think…it’s kind of a shame that we never had the chance to be. You’re…I don’t think you’re someone who wants to hurt others really…You’ve…been hurt…And I…forgive you…for everything…”

Hordak stared at her, uncomprehending. He wanted to ask her what she meant, but there was no more time. He had to answer his Emperor’s call. So he nodded at her wordlessly before heading for the doors again. Watching the back of him as he exited, Glimmer quietly followed him out. He glanced back to check that the young queen was still behind him before proceeding to lead her down a white corridor.

Horde Prime looked down at his reconditioned general and the Bright Moon queen from his throne as they came before him. From behind Hordak, Glimmer observed Catra standing just behind the Horde emperor, overlooking his large shoulder as he sat cross-legged upon his ornately-designed white throne. Her expression was neutral as her heterochromatic eyes watched Hordak and Glimmer approach and stop some distance before their elevated position. Glimmer glanced up at her and Hordak lowered himself down onto one knee and bowed his head before his emperor. Horde Prime’s attention shifted to Glimmer.

“Your Majesty, I was not expecting you,” Prime addressed with a seemingly serene smile. His four neon green eyes shifted to Hordak’s kneeling form. “I hope my little brother’s manners have not offended you.”

Glimmer’s eyes opened wider as horrific memories of Horde Prime’s mobile hair cables stabbing into the back of Hordak’s neck flashed through her mind again.

“What?” she blurted out louder than she had meant to. “No, no! He’s been perfectly mannered! I’m here because-”

“My Emperor, Her Majesty wishes to be present to greet her fellow Princesses upon their arrival on the ship,” Hordak interrupted, drawing Prime’s attention back to him. He was still in his kneeling position, but looking up at his emperor as he addressed him.

“Is that so?” Prime asked with an eyebrow subtly raised at Glimmer.

“Yes, they’ll be more at ease if they see me when they arrive,” Glimmer confirmed, instinctively taking a step closer to Hordak’s side, for protection or to back him up, she wasn’t sure.

Prime seemed to consider for a moment. “That is probably true.” He smiled perfectly. “Come stand beside me, Your Majesty.”

Glimmer blinked. Had she heard him correctly?

“I will grant your request if you remain beside me during their arrival,” Prime elaborated.

Glimmer hesitated. She glanced at Hordak who was looking back at her. He said nothing, but she was sure that there was silent advice in his expression: ‘Do as he says’, he seemed to want to say. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, with clenched fists at her sides, slowly and almost painfully forced herself to obey the Horde emperor’s command. His perfect smile widened as she came to stand at his other side, opposite Catra. He leaned over to her.

“Very good…my queen,” he whispered, bright green teeth flashing through his pristine lips.

Glimmer suppressed a shiver.

Prime then turned and nodded subtly to Catra. “General Catra,” he said through smiling lips, “I place my trust in you again.”

Catra bowed promptly to the Horde emperor. As she lifted her head again, her blue and yellow eyes made contact with Glimmer’s sparkling ones for an instant.

“I won’t disappoint, Emperor,” Catra acknowledged, focusing quickly on Prime again.

Glimmer watched uncertainly as the feline woman proceeded away from Prime’s side and approached Hordak. Hordak rose to his feet when she stopped in front of him. Together, they turned and silently headed for the teleportation platform ahead.

Since the fall of Castle Bright Moon to the Horde, the Whispering Woods had become the refuge of the castle’s inhabitants. It had been a major blow to the Rebellion. Now King Micah, Shadow Weaver, Castaspella and the remaining princesses stood gathered at the edge of the woods, looking out past the bordering line of trees at the skies beyond filled with Horde battleships.

“I don’t like this idea,” Castaspella complained, looking across at Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta and Scorpia who were stood by her side.

“For once, I have to agree with her,” Shadow Weaver concurred. “This is highly risky. If there are any mistakes or unexpected complications-”

King Micah interrupted her. “We are out of options and out of time, Shadow Weaver, and Adora has yet to return. This may be the only chance we have to turn the tide in our favour.”

Shadow Weaver looked at the sorcerer king. “Let us hope then that this works as intended.”

“Even if it doesn’t, we’re no worse off,” Mermista reasoned. “Horde Prime was going to come for us one way or another. At least now we have a plan.”

“And without Adora and the sword of She-Ra, no-one can use the Heart of Etheria,” Perfuma added.

“Hey, this’ll work!” Frosta firmly declared. She looked up to the large scorpion princess beside her. “It's got to, right Scorpia?”

Scorpia looked down at the small ice princess with a forced smile. She patted her head lightly with a pincer.

“Sure, little ice buddy,” she said with less conviction than she had wanted.

King Micah stepped toward the four princesses, looking over them all encouragingly. “Everything’ll be okay. Just keep yourselves safe until we get to you. With the spell markers we’ve placed over you all, we’ll be able to find you again wherever you are.”

Castaspella joined her brother’s side. “Yes, don’t worry, my dears. We’ll be right behind you. Remember, you’re not going into this alone.”

Frosta looked at the ground awkwardly for a moment before suddenly throwing herself between Micah and Castaspella, grabbing them both by their lower clothes and pulling them into a tight hug with her small hands. Overcoming their initial surprise as the child princess buried her face into them, the sorcerer king and his sister laid their hands around her head and back comfortingly, completing the embrace.

For a moment, the other three princesses watched the trio hugging, then Scorpia and Perfuma came forward too, joining themselves around the sorcerers and Frosta to form a cocoon of hugging bodies. Left to stand alone with Shadow Weaver, Mermista shrugged and finally came forward to join the group hug too. Shadow Weaver looked on at them, crossing her arms.

Finally, the princesses separated themselves from Micah and Castaspella, smiling.

“Okay, I think we’re ready,” Mermista declared with a nod, looking at her fellow princesses.

With looks of renewed determination, the four princesses left the protection of the woods, walking out from the trees and leaving their sorcerer companions behind. They came to stand in a clearing just outside of the trees.

In moments, a green teleportation beam suddenly materialised before them. Out of it stepped Hordak and Catra, accompanied by a small group of Horde clone soldiers who, upon Hordak’s arm signal, immediately spread out and surrounded the four princesses.

Catra stepped forward toward them, a joyless smile on her face as she greeted them: “Glad you could make it, Princesses. Horde Prime’s pleased that you accepted his invitation.”

The princesses watched uneasily as the Horde clones closed in around them.

“Don’t resist and this will be painless,” Catra instructed.

The feline woman watched wordlessly as the clones began ushering the princesses forward, further away from the border of the woods where Micah, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver watched intently from behind trees and shrubs.

Then the princesses were swallowed by the bright green light of the teleportation beam. Its circumference expanded to encompass all the clones and Hordak and Catra as well. They felt themselves lifted up off the ground and then…nothing.

The princesses awoke staring up into a black void dotted with small lights. They were lying on the floor and had to blink to clear their vision. Then, slowly, they each sat up.

“Welcome, Princesses of Etheria.”

Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta and Scorpia looked in the direction of the voice and froze at what they saw: a flawless white being that bore a resemblance to Hordak, but with four alien green eyes, wearing long, white and dark grey garments that matched his calm white complexion. He was sat on an elaborate white throne, and beside him was stood a wide-eyed Queen Glimmer looking back at them.

“I am Horde Prime,” the white alien being announced with a beautiful smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pop quiz: pink and purple hair, now who had those hair colours in their Classics toy before? ;)
> 
> I imagine pre-Etheria Hordak, when he was still Horde Prime's general, to be less angry and more composed than the Hordak we have come to know. Hence his more 'courtly' demeanour before Glimmer in this chapter, and even his earlier merciful encounter with Micah and the others back at Bright Moon was a sign of this less angsty version of him. He has essentially being reverted back to his younger state now. Don't know if we'll get to see much in the way of personalities from any of the clones in S5, but it'd be interesting if we did!
> 
> Next chapter, secrets are revealed on Beast Island!


	13. Sins of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta's world is turned on its head as the past of an immortal queen is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been building up to a big reveal about Entrapta and here it is. Things will never be the same again for the Princess of Dryl.

“Tell me everything.”

As soon as the Princess of Dryl had spoken the words, Queen Angella’s resolve broke and words that she had never meant to speak finally fell from her lips:

_“I am immortal. I have lived for so very long. But there was a time when even I was young and impetuous.”_

_“It was a long time ago. A lifetime ago. When the threat of the Horde on Etheria was new and unknown, and I was a young queen, recently crowned.”_

_“An outsider from beyond our world came through a portal. He fell from the skies, crashing into a lake. I saw him when I arrived to investigate. I dived into the waters and rescued him, pulling him ashore. He was…unlike any man I had ever seen: warm-hued skin, hair the colour of night, deep, red eyes…And he wore symbols I could not read on his armour. They were First Ones’ symbols. He was…a First One.”_

_“He was royalty, a Prince. He had been at war on his world and was now lost and stranded on Etheria. I took pity on him and brought him back to Bright Moon where I nursed him back to health. He was grateful. We talked much and fast became good friends.”_

_“We spent nights sneaking out of the palace to explore the Whispering Woods together. I told him all about the magic of the woods and of Etheria. He was a keen listener. He wanted to know everything about magic. He was intelligent and curious.”_

_“But he was also analytical and scientific-minded. Over time, he made himself tools and machines that could store and even manipulate magic. He would capture samples of magical energy from the woods and from the Moonstone and bring them back to the palace to study. He discovered things about Etheria’s magic that even I did not know, much like you and your research into Etheria’s runestones, Princess Entrapta. He was brilliant, and I was enthralled…for a time.”_

_“The Horde’s advances through Etheria became more obvious. Hordak emerged as the leader of the invading forces. In the beginning, he was sighted leading his armies from the conquered Black Kingdom of the Scorpion people, which had been turned into the Horde’s domain and re-named ‘The Fright Zone’. It came to our knowledge that he had usurped the kingdom’s ruler and taken possession of their runestone, the Black Garnet. As the Horde’s threat grew, I began to rally the remaining free kingdoms of Etheria together to oppose it. We were the first rebellion, as you now know.”_

_“My…partner supported me as I was forming the first Princess Alliance. He used his combined scientific and magical knowledge to help us in battling the Horde. He created weapons and devices that allowed us to halt the Horde’s advances. He was instrumental in aiding our understanding of the Horde’s unfamiliar technology and weapons. He had encountered them before. His arrival on Etheria had not been a coincidence, for it was during the Horde’s invasion of his home world when he fell through the portal into ours. He had been the one to open the portal with technology from his world. And he had inadvertently brought a Horde ship through during battle, Hordak’s ship. By accident, he had brought the Horde to Etheria. But he promised to do everything he could to help us vanquish their threat.”_

_“Eventually, he created a weapon powerful enough to severely damage the Horde forces: a bomb containing the collected energies of our runestones: the Heart-Blossom of Plumeria, the Pearl of Salineas, the Fractal Flake of the Kingdom of Snows, and Bright Moon’s Moonstone. We…I…made a difficult, but necessary decision to use it. With it, we succeeded in dealing a major blow to the Horde’s stronghold in the Fright Zone. We crippled the Horde forces enough that day to set them back significantly. Having injured at least half the Horde army, they were forced to withdraw from further battle. We had achieved a stalemate.”_

_“Right after that, the first Princess Alliance disbanded. Not all of my allies agreed that what we had done to the Horde was right, that we had gone too far and caused too much harm, and I…agreed with them. So, in the years that followed, I lived quietly and peacefully in my castle in Bright Moon. I did nothing to engage the Horde further. The fighting had largely ceased and, for many years, we were at peace.”_

_“During this time of peace, my partner and I…cemented our bond. We were in love and…came together…The result of our union…was a child…my first one…”_

_“She was a beautiful child…my first little princess…and, for a short while, I was happy, with my partner by my side and our child between us.”_

_“But…as with all good things, it did not last.”_

_“Despite the calm and our blissful union, my partner’s study of Etheria’s magic and runestones continued. He kept himself isolated in his lab for hours every day. He was determined to find a way back to his home world, the world of the First Ones. He was convinced Etheria’s runestones held the answer to creating another portal. He was conducting more experiments with runestone magic.”_

_“Then, one day, I discovered him doing something unthinkable: he was conducting an experiment…on our baby daughter. He had taken her into his lab and was attempting to infuse her directly with the powers of an artificially-made runestone, a miniature crystal of his design: the Chaos Crystal. He had lost his mind. I stumbled upon him with our daughter whilst his experiment was in progress. I intervened to stop him. We fought, and in the struggle, he lost control of the Chaos Crystal’s energy beam. There was an explosion and...he was caught in it. The blast struck his face…injuring him. Then the crystal somehow opened a portal within the lab. It took him away…I had managed to save our baby girl, but my partner…my love…was…gone…”_

_“He had left me with his runestone and our baby daughter, but she had been affected by the crystal’s powers. Her hair grew unnaturally long and took on magical properties, and she was seemingly entranced by the Chaos Crystal. But it was dangerous. It contained too much power to be kept in Bright Moon. It had to be removed. The Sorcerers’ Guild informed me about an island where the ancient First Ones had disposed of their unwanted technology: Beast Island. So, I decided to send the crystal here, to be hidden away from the world. It was never meant to be found again.”_

_“As for my baby daughter…she was restless and unsettled. Her behaviour was unusual, disruptive, alarming...I feared she had been irrevocably damaged by the Chaos Crystal. She needed…special care…And her father’s harmful legacy…had to be concealed…from her and the rest of Bright Moon…No-one could know what had become of the queen’s consort…I did not want him to be remembered for the madness he had descended into…My daughter had to be kept away from any possible risk of rediscovering his runestone…So I…made arrangements for her to be cared for…in another place, away from others, where she could live safely and in peace. Despite having no runestone of her own, she would be a princess in her own right with a kingdom of her own. I made sure she would never need or want for anything. It was…for the best…for all of us…”_

_“My life went on, and, in time, I met my beloved Micah, a gifted young sorcerer from Mystacor. We married and I was soon blessed with my second daughter: Glimmer. Our family was perfect. But, again, it was not to last. I lost Micah too, to the Horde. It was my fault. I was not there to prevent him from being captured. I let him go out to fight the Horde alone whilst I stayed behind in Bright Moon with our young daughter. I let him fight the battles I no longer wanted to fight. And he paid the price for my reluctance.”_

_“In the years following Micah’s loss, I continued to watch anxiously from afar as the Horde recruited new young soldiers and rebuilt their numbers. They were recovering from the damage that I and the first Princess Alliance had done to them. Hordak’s armies were rising again. Bright Moon had flourished though and I did not want to reignite the war with the Horde, but I feared the day that they would resume their conquest of the rest of Etheria. All the while, I tried my best to protect Glimmer, but, like her father, she was so full of courage and determination to fight.”_

_“I never imagined however that, one day, one of the Horde’s new young soldiers would come to me to offer her assistance in fighting the side that had raised her. By some miracle of fate, Adora and She-Ra became the new Rebellion’s key weapon against the Horde. Without ever needing my involvement, Adora rallied the new generation of princesses to form a new Alliance, and amongst them, I would learn later, was my first daughter: the Princess of Dryl.”_

Curled on the temple floor, translucent wings slumped like great weights at her sides, the queen of Bright Moon looked up with watery eyes at Entrapta. The long-haired princess was still, breathless, staring back at the winged queen before her, her gloved hands curled inward into her chest. Tense seconds passed as they simply watched each other.

Imp was on all fours by Entrapta’s feet, staring up at her. Bow, standing to the side of Queen Angella, was also watching the queen with large, shocked eyes. He was the first to regain his voice and break the silence that had filled the temple hall.

“I don’t believe it…Entrapta…is your daughter?” he choked. “All this time…when we were fighting the Horde…even when we lost her in the Fright Zone…you never said anything…”

The queen finally looked away from Entrapta, shutting her eyes.

“It…it was never meant to…,” she started to say quietly. “It was another time, another life…I couldn’t tell anyone…I couldn’t tell Glimmer…that she had an older half-sister…”

Silence descended again for several moments.

“So you…just pretended that she never existed?” Bow said in a low voice.

Angella squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she fought to hold back emotions.

“I…I had to!” she suddenly cried. “Her father is gone and I couldn’t- I didn’t know how to-”

Her eyes snapped open and she looked back with a terrified expression at Entrapta, her words tumbling out of her mouth: “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I never meant…to hurt you!”

The queen’s desperate words produced no visible reaction from Entrapta. The long-haired princess remained unnaturally still, seemingly in a world of her own, as if she could not hear the queen.

Slowly, her hand slipped into her pocket and pulled out her First Ones’ crystal, Hordak’s crystal. Holding it in her palm, she held it up toward Angella, presenting its symbol-inscribed face.

“Was this…his?” Entrapta, barely audible, asked.

Angella’s eyes lowered onto the fuchsia, diamond-shaped crystal in the princess’ hand. Her own hand lifted and her fingers reached out as if to touch it, but her arm did not move forward.

“…Yes…It was a gift he gave me…And then I gave it to you…” The queen’s voice was delicate, fragile. “It was…a token of his affection. He wrote on it in his own language the letters: L.U.V.D.”

“Loved…,” Entrapta uttered, fingers curling around the crystal as she drew it back toward her chest, looking down at it with an unreadable expression. “I never understood what that meant. I’m not good with friendships and feelings…But at least now I understand…Now it all makes sense…why I never fit in…why I’m so different…why I am what I am…”

Her magenta eyes rose to Angella, but they were soulless, lifeless. Her voice was flat, mechanical and devoid of feeling:

“It’s because…I’m a failure…I’m not fully Etherian…I’m part First One…Eternian…too…”

Her gaze drifted away from Angella and over to the oval, cerise-coloured crystal on top of the metal column at the centre of the temple hall.

“The Chaos Crystal…He created it…Used it on me…I think…it was reacting…to me all along,” she said quietly, as if to herself, eyes fixed on the reddish-pink, oval crystal. “It wasn’t Adora’s sword that activated the crystal and opened the portal to Eternia…It was me…The crystal responded to my presence, my touch…I didn’t even realise it…It was seeking…to re-establish a connection…with me…”

Her hollow gaze swept back to the queen and she took a step toward her. Angella brought a hand over her chest as if to protect herself from the advance of the lifeless princess.

“Tell me his name,” Entrapta instructed tonelessly. “Tell me…my father’s name.”

Angella closed her eyes. She answered in a voice barely above a whisper:

“His name was…Keldor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know the name at the end, go and look it up.
> 
> It's taken me a while to reveal this weird theory about Entrapta's origins that struck me a while ago. I first referenced it in the 'Fading Light' chapter of my 'Addendum' fic when Light Hope's recordings mentioned a 'princess of Etherian and First Ones heritage'. Entrapta's always been known as an amoral character, with no true allegiance to either the heroes or villains, and I kinda thought it'd be interesting if her birth reflected this and she was a product of parents from opposing sides so to speak.
> 
> Then the fact that Angella has been referred to as immortal didn't escape my attention either. How long has she actually been alive? She could have lived a whole other life before meeting Micah that contributed to making her the over-protective mother that she was to Glimmer. And then there's the colour purple in both Angella and Entrapta's hair, though I believe Angella and Glimmer's shade of purple is darker. But what about the red in Entrapta's eyes? And her distinctly high-pitched, nasal voice? My mind wandered and I crossed further into Masters of the Universe territory, bringing me to the most well-known He-Man villain of all.
> 
> However, this is supposed to be set long before he became that recognisable villain. Y'know, when he still had a face. I made him more of a scientist in his early days too. His interest in power starts from a scientific foundation. I did away with the blue skin in his early life as well. I've imagined him with a skin tone similar to Entrapta's during this time.
> 
> EDIT: Also, Entrapta and Hordak's relationship just makes even more sense when you take into account Hordak's long-known association to this arch-nemesis of He-Man.
> 
> And that, friends, is how this all came to be in my head. I put waaay too much thought into this. But I hope you're all favourably surprised!


	14. Gambit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now face-to-face with Horde Prime, the princesses must rely on one last plan to save Etheria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The princesses have made it onto the Horde mothership, but will things go according to plan?
> 
> Was wonderful reading all your responses to last chapter's shock revelation! Hope you've all recovered.
> 
> This will probably be my last update before the final season hits on Friday. I'll take a week or so off before resuming this fic whilst we're all processing it. I might post a short one-shot just before then too: a little S5 finale idea that just popped into my head and I felt inclined to write down.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy this chapter all! And here's to SPOP going out with an awesome bang!

Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta and Scorpia stared up in open-mouthed shock at the cross-legged figure of the Horde emperor seated upon his white throne, framed by the vast array of illuminated screens behind him. Glimmer stood just behind his thick shoulder, staring at her friends before her anxiously. The four princesses, scattered across the floor of the Horde flagship’s teleportation platform, remained encircled by the Horde clones that had been beamed up with them. Hordak and Catra stood behind them, preventing any possibility of escape.

Faint crackles of energy along their bodies caused the princesses to look down at themselves. They gazed down at their arms and hands as their powers fizzled out.

“The repulsor shield around this ship disrupts your connection to your runestones,” Horde Prime’s voice rang out, causing the four princesses to look up at him again. “You’ll find your elemental powers are ineffective here.” He rose from his throne. “But do not be concerned. You will have no need for such abilities.”

Horde Prime descended flawlessly from the dais upon which his throne stood and strolled toward the princesses, one arm folded behind his back and the other rising in an elaborate gesture.

“Welcome aboard the Horde flagship,” he said with an easy smile. “I have been waiting to make your acquaintance. And Queen Glimmer has been most anxious to see you all again.”

He glanced back with two of his three right eyes at the young Bright Moon queen behind him, still rooted beside his throne, but staring at her friends desperately.

“You may go to them, my queen,” he permitted.

Under Horde Prime’s gaze, Glimmer stopped herself from rushing forward toward the other princesses. She had to guard her emotions around him. She could not allow him to witness her vulnerability. Instead, she controlled her descent toward them, walking in a queenly manner befitting of a royal. As she made her way down, she eyed Catra standing behind them. Sparkling and heterochromatic eyes locked for the time of a breath. Then the feline woman stepped forward from behind the princesses and bowed toward Horde Prime.

“Emperor, if I may be excused?” she requested as she straightened again. “There’s something else I must see to.”

The side of Horde Prime’s mouth seemed to lift higher. “Yes, you may attend to your other matters, Catra.”

Catra bowed again and backed away, retreating from the princesses. Glimmer watched her as she turned and left the main control hall, crossing the bridge linking the central platform area to a set of doors on the far wall. The feline woman exited through the doors. Then Glimmer brought her attention back to her fellow princesses as she came within reach of them.

“I’m so glad to see you all,” she greeted with restrained relief.

The four princesses gathered around her immediately.

“Glimmer, are you alright?” Mermista asked seriously, taking hold of her hands as if to confirm that she was indeed standing there.

“I’m okay,” Glimmer reassured.

The approach of Horde Prime’s footsteps from right beside her caused Glimmer to tense. His large clawed hand came down upon her shoulder. The princesses fell silent as they watched him holding her. Without looking back at him, Glimmer forced herself to remain still under his touch.

“Will you not tell your friends how you have been treated here, my queen?” he suggested instructively, eyeing her.

“Y-yes, of course,” Glimmer replied tensely. She focused on her friends before her, trying to ignore the subtle pressure of Prime’s hand on her shoulder. “I’ve been well taken care of. Horde Prime has been...a gracious host.”

“Queen Glimmer and I have been learning much from each other,” Prime said smoothly, his four alien eyes never leaving her, “have we not, my queen?”

Glimmer maintained her composure beneath him as she kept her eyes on the princesses. “Yes. Horde Prime wants to bring peace and order to the universe. And he’s interested in using the Heart of Etheria to achieve this.”

At last, Prime released Glimmer’s shoulder, much to her relief. His four green eyes swept over to the princesses.

“You may be inclined to believe that I am a threat to your planet,” he said cordially. “Your prior experience of the Horde has been…less than ideal…,” he threw a noticeable glance of displeasure at Hordak, still stood soldier-like behind the princesses, “but I wish to correct this flawed version and impress upon you the benevolence of the true Horde. Contrary to what you may think, I am here to bring salvation to your world.”

He brought his muscular arms up and lifted his hands, palm-up, at his sides as he continued:

“With the Horde’s advanced technology and knowledge, I offer much needed development to Etheria. And, as Queen Glimmer has said, I am interested in using the immense power stored at the heart of your planet to further my mission of bringing peace and order to the universe. There is much I believe we can do for one another.”

He smiled elegantly down at the princesses.

“So, let us talk.”

The teleportation spell had worked. When their combined magical energies had subsided from around them, Micah, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver knew instantly that they had made it to their intended destination from the horrific sight that met their eyes: rows upon rows of glass-topped pods containing identical Horde clones, all bearing an eerie resemblance to Hordak. The rows extended far above them, lining the circular walls of a vast hall. Clearly, they had arrived on the Horde mothership.

“By the First Ones…,” Castaspella whispered.

Shadow Weaver moved closer to one of the pods and peered into it at the inactive clone within.

“Horde Prime’s clones…,” she mused tonelessly. “This is how he manufactures his armies. This is how Hordak was brought into being.”

Micah brought his eyes down, away from the overwhelming sight of the endless rows of clones. Instead, he focused on his hands and drew a glowing square in the air, adding a symbol at its centre. The symbol disintegrated and reformed into four pulsing dots clustered at a particular spot within the glowing square.

“The tracking spell we placed on the princesses will lead us to them,” he informed, looking at his magically conjured map. “They’re not far.”

Castaspella and Shadow Weaver were looking at him now.

“I’ll use a cloaking spell to conceal us,” Castaspella announced, bringing her arms up to begin spell-casting.

“Be sure to be accurate with your technique. We cannot afford mistakes now,” Shadow Weaver warned, looking pointedly at Castaspella.

Castaspella glared back at her, intending to respond with equal vehemence, but her brother responded first:

“My sister is more than capable, Shadow Weaver,” Micah said evenly. “Just make sure you are ready to deal with any enemies we may encounter.”

Shadow Weaver nodded to him. “Very well,” she relented.

“You’ll need some help reaching the princesses.”

The new voice took them by surprise and they whirled round with hands raised to see a familiar feline figure emerging from the shadows behind them.

“Catra,” Shadow Weaver greeted sardonically, slowly lowering her arms, “what a…’pleasant’…surprise.”

“Can’t say the same,” Catra replied coldly, narrowing her heterochromatic eyes at her one-time mother figure.

Micah walked up to Catra, arms lowered. “We…weren’t sure whether to expect you once we arrived. So we were prepared to locate the princesses on our own. The information you passed to them about this mothership was sufficient for our needs. But if you know where exactly they are-”

Catra looked at Micah now. “The princesses along with Glimmer are in Horde Prime’s main control hall. It requires authorised access, which I happen to have. I’ll lead you to them.”

Micah’s eyes had widened at the mention of Glimmer’s name. He nodded. “Alright.”

“They’re without their powers thanks to some kind of shielding around this ship which disrupts their connection to their runestones,” Catra further informed.

Micah frowned. “There’s no time to lose then. We have to get to them quickly.” He paused, looking at Catra. “We were sceptical about trusting you, but…thank you for helping us…to rescue the princesses and stop Horde Prime.”

“Don’t mention it,” Catra replied, looking downward.

“I must admit, I didn’t think I’d see the day when you would join forces with the princesses,” Shadow Weaver remarked humourlessly. “How things have changed.”

Catra looked away, crossing her arms. “Don’t expect any hugs from me.” She threw a glance back at the three sorcerers. “Well, if you have any magical disappearing tricks, you’d best use it to avoid detection by any of Horde Prime’s soldiers whilst we get to the control hall.”

Castaspella raised her arms again and began drawing glowing symbols in the air. She proceeded to disperse the symbols across herself, Micah and Shadow Weaver with a wave of her hand. The sorcerers disappeared from view, becoming invisible as soon as the glowing symbols touched them.

When the three sorcerers had vanished from view, Catra turned briskly to exit the hall of Horde clones.

“Follow me,” she instructed.

Glimmer and the princesses looked up at Horde Prime as he spoke amidst a holographic field of planets and stars surrounding him.

“Until recently, your knowledge of other planets and galaxies was non-existent. But now that your planet has left the confines of its former dimensional prison, you are now part of a wider universe. You cannot even begin to imagine the number of other worlds and lifeforms that exist out there, the possibilities that brings.”

Prime brought his hand up and, from his metal-capped finger, a small hologram of a green ball of swirling light appeared.

“Our portal technology serves to connect us to any known part of Space. We can travel to any planet we wish. It is how we reached your planet. With this technology, I have succeeded in connecting all of the Horde’s colonies and territories across the universe. It is how I have created and maintained my empire.”

With a snap of his fingers, the green ball of light disappeared. And with a wave of his other arm, the field of holographic planets and stars around him vanished as well. The Horde emperor lowered his arms, looking at the princesses again with a disarming smile.

“And now I extend an invitation to you, princesses, to join the Horde. Your world will hold a special place as the jewel of my empire. With the power of the Heart of Etheria, the Horde empire will expand, and peace and order will spread with it.”

Glimmer, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta and Scorpia exchanged furtive glances before returning their eyes to Prime.

“The Heart of Etheria is dangerous,” Mermista said warily. “We can’t control it.”

“Activating it could destroy the planet itself and others within range,” Glimmer explained gravely. “We activated it once before when we were all connected to our runestones and only narrowly managed to stop it before it could detonate. It had to be shut down. There was no way to control it.”

A deep chuckle arising from the depths of Prime’s chest took the princesses by surprise. They looked at him.

“Perhaps not by your…less developed technology,” he said with a teeth-baring grin. “But I believe Horde technology may be able to provide a solution to that.” The corner of his lips rose higher.

The sound of footsteps approaching then caused the princesses to look behind themselves. Catra had returned. She walked past Hordak and came to a stop just before them. They watched her uncertainly.

“Ah, Catra. Did you see to your…other matters?” Prime queried casually.

Catra’s eyes sharpened. “I’m about to.”

With startling speed, the feline woman suddenly grabbed a firing weapon from her hip and swung it behind her. She released a blast of green energy at an empty space behind her. Screams of shock and pain were heard as the blast hit something unseen. Glimmer and the princesses gasped sharply when Micha, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver materialised out of thin air behind Catra, crackling with green tendrils of energy. They collapsed to the floor before the princesses, out cold.

“Dad…,” Glimmer croaked in disbelief as she saw her father, for the first time in years, unconscious on the floor. Slowly, she approached him and collapsed onto the floor at his side, touching his unmoving face tentatively.

“Sorcerers. Clever,” Horde Prime remarked, strolling up behind a crumpled Glimmer to gaze down at the three unconscious bodies on the floor. “Able to bypass the repulsor shields and operate their sorcery within my ship.”

He brought his green gaze up to the clone soldiers surrounding the princesses.

“Restrain them” he ordered. “Unlike the princesses, they are not disconnected from their sources of power by our shields.”

The princesses watched in dismay as some of the clones strode forward and knelt down to attach cuff devices around the sorcerers’ arms. Their hands were encased in metal cylinders and locked behind their backs. Glimmer struggled to hold onto her father as he was dragged out of her hands to be cuffed, one clone keeping her in place with a firm grip on her shoulder.

“I am disappointed, princesses.” The princesses looked up as Prime spoke. “I had hoped to earn your cooperation…” He approached them. “But your deception has forced my hand.”

Glimmer threw a look of shock and disbelief at Catra. “Catra…you…betrayed us.”

Scorpia looked at her former Horde friend as well, hurt apparent in her eyes. Catra looked away from her. Scorpia’s head and shoulders slumped and she shut her eyes in wordless disappointment.

“She has done you a favour, my queen,” Prime responded to Glimmer. “Thanks to her revelation of your plot against me, you have been spared of severe punishment. I have had time to consider and decided that you all may still hold purpose. In my mercifulness, I grant you all the chance to repent for your sins and to serve my glory.”

The princesses’ expressions hardened.

“We’ll never help the Horde take over other worlds,” Mermista stated firmly.

Prime’s expression remained unchanged. “Unfortunate.”

He brought himself before the princesses, towering over them. His voice dropped to a threatening depth. “Understand this: Etheria’s only usefulness to me lies in the power at its core. If it ceases to be useful to me, then it is worthless, and worthless things must be disposed of. You will give me the Heart of Etheria, or your world will simply…cease to be.”

The princesses fell silent, watching the Horde emperor with horrified expressions and widened eyes.

“But…the Heart of Etheria can’t be activated anymore,” Perfuma protested weakly. “The key was destroyed. There’s no way to access its power now.”

Prime turned his four green eyes upon the flower princess. “Tell me about this…key.”

“A sixth princess: She-Ra!” Perfuma answered quickly.

Catra’s eyes snapped to her.

The Horde emperor’s eyes widened then narrowed. “She-Ra…,” he uttered.

The other princesses stared at Perfuma, mouths open.

Prime approached the flower princess, leaning over her. “She-Ra lives?” he pressed.

Perfuma twisted her body away, looking up at him fearfully. “Y-yes! She was the only one capable of channelling the magic from the Heart of Etheria with her sword! But she broke it to prevent the Heart from activating!”

Slowly, Prime straightened and moved away from the flower princess, attention diverted from the princesses.

“So…my ancient enemy still exists…” he murmured to himself, “on this world…”

He turned back to the princesses with narrowed eyes. “You will tell me where She-Ra is. **Now** ,” he instructed severely.

When there was no immediate answer, Prime’s long, powerful arm shot out and grabbed Frosta by the collar of her coat. He lifted the child princess clean off the floor.

“ **Frosta!** ” the other princesses cried out in horror.

The small ice princess struggled momentarily in Horde Prime’s unbreakable grip. Then she threw a determined look at her fellow princesses.

“Don’t tell him!” she snapped defiantly.

Wordlessly, Prime raised his claws before the child’s face.

“ **She’s on Beast Island!** ” Scorpia blurted, reaching a pincer claw out for Frosta. “Don’t hurt her!”

Catra’s ears twitched and her eyes widened upon hearing the island’s name.

Prime sternly regarded the scorpion princess for a moment before dropping Frosta onto the floor, letting her land roughly on her side. Scorpia hurried over to her young friend, helping her sit up. Prime seemed to ignore them though as he brought his gaze up to Hordak, who was still standing behind the princesses.

“Beast Island…yes…the place you used to exile prisoners and traitors to, Little Brother…” Prime said with a smirk, “and where you lost…her.”

The princesses followed Prime’s line of sight and looked back at Hordak as well. There was a look of confusion on his face, but he remained rigid under all the eyes now focusing on him.

Then Prime abruptly brought his attention to Catra. “Catra, I presume you know how to reach Beast Island?”

Catra’s attention seemed to return from elsewhere and she nodded. “Yes. I have the coordinates.”

“Take us there,” Prime commanded.

Catra bowed her head. “As you command, Emperor.”

Glimmer looked at Catra desperately. “Catra, don’t do this…”

Catra turned her gaze to her, face expressionless. “Sorry, Sparkles. The whole taking down the Horde flagship from the inside plan was never going to work. You and your friends never really stood a chance against Horde Prime. And he happened to make me a better offer.”

“You…sold us out…,” Glimmer uttered through gritted teeth.

“He already controls all of Etheria,” Catra continued tonelessly. “And you’ve got to wonder, with how long the princesses and the Horde have been at war on our world, whether it would be better if Horde Prime just ends all the fighting? Aren’t you tired of it all? Wouldn’t it be better to just accept his peace and order?”

The princesses were staring at Catra in horror as she spoke:

“The truth, princesses, is: if you want to survive, there really is no other option but to join him.”

Prime returned his gaze to Hordak. “Take them all to be contained.”

The three unconscious sorcerers were picked up and slung over the shoulders of three clones, whilst Hordak and the remaining clones stepped forward toward the princesses. 

“Hordak…,” Glimmer pleaded quietly as the once-leader of the Fright Zone slowly approached her.

“I must obey my emperor,” Hordak said heavily. “Apologies, Majesty.”

He took hold of Glimmer’s wrist and hoisted her to her feet, then began to lead her away. The other princesses were similarly taken by the other clone soldiers. They struggled as they were led away from Prime.

“Don’t struggle,” Catra said calmly. “Just do as he says. It’ll be easier for you all.”

Glimmer glared back angrily at the feline woman. “I never should have trusted you.”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t have,” Catra replied unphased. “You **knew** better than to trust me. No-one trusts me and I don’t trust anyone.”

“You’re a **traitor** to Etheria!” Glimmer shouted back at her furiously as Hordak led her away. “You don’t deserve to be **trusted** or **loved** by anyone!”

Catra’s gaze dropped. “No, I guess I don’t.”

As the princesses and sorcerers were removed from her view, Catra felt Prime come up behind her. He covered her shoulder with his large hand and reached a hooked finger under her chin, turning her face up towards his. With hollow eyes, she looked up into his four bright green ones.

“Well done, Catra,” he whispered with a broad smile. “Well done indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not all is as it seems with Catra.
> 
> I'm crossing my fingers for a happy ending for our villainous lab partners in S5. Becasue if they don't reunite, I fear the breaking of many hearts (including yours truly).
> 
> Next chapter, in the wake of her shocking discovery, what will become of Entrapta?
> 
> See you all again soon!


	15. Capture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of a shocking revelation about her past, Entrapta is left questioning her purpose and existence, and is more alone and vulnerable than ever before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Watched and mulled over season 5. Would have liked to see more Entrapdak moments, but appreciated what we got.
> 
> So, this fic has officially become an alternate take on the final season now.
> 
> Thank you again to all those who have been following, liking and commenting on this fic. I hope to keep you invested. Being that this is an Entrapdak-focused fic, there'll certainly be a reunion on the horizon!
> 
> I'd also like to point out that whilst I am tying in some Masters of the Universe elements and characters into this fic, this is still primarily a SPOP universe fic, and I'm not intending to go into full-out crossover territory.
> 
> Warning: this chapter tackles some severe abandonment issues. Entrapta's going to go through some pretty heavy emotional experiences.

Angella, Bow and Imp watched the long-haired princess of Dryl as she stood gazing down at the diamond-shaped, fuchsia crystal in her hand, regarding the First Ones’ symbols for ‘L.U.V.D.’ running down its face.

“Keldor…”

The name floated out in a whisper from the princess’ lips.

“My…father…He was a First One…an Eternian…”

She felt the bottom of her eyes filling with moisture.

“It was him…it was him I dreamt of…I saw…everything…his arrival on Etheria through a portal…how you rescued him…how he helped you fight the Horde…the baby with hair that moved…the Chaos Crystal…the fight in the lab…the accident…his face…his disappearance into the portal…”

A sharp intake of breath drew itself into her throat.

“The crystal…it…showed me everything that happened to him…”

Angella stared at her first daughter with stricken eyes. “Entrapta, please, listen. You don’t under-”

Entrapta turned her back to the queen.

“When I was little, I was always told that my parents were gone…,” she continued, as if no-one had spoken, “but that they loved me…I never questioned it.”

Her long pigtails began to wrap around her body.

“The truth is…they left me…my father experimented on me…then disappeared…and my mother…didn’t want me…because I wasn’t…perfect…so she…left me behind…”

Her arms joined her hair to wrap over herself, crossing over her body.

“No-body understands my imperfections…everyone abandons me…even my own parents…No-one stays around imperfection…No-one appreciates it…No-one values it…”

From her vacant eyes, tears formed and streamed down her cheeks.

Angella took a hesitant step toward her, reaching for her back. “Entrapta, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I should have told you sooner. I should have come back for you. I never should have…left you. I have made…regrettable decisions. Please…we can’t stay here…”

As the winged queen’s fingers came to hover over her shoulder, Entrapta suddenly whirled around, her long lilac hair swinging off her body to sweep the space around her clear of unwanted intruders. Angella stumbled back in surprise.

“ **DON’T TOUCH ME!** ” the long-haired princess shouted.

“Entrapta-,” Angella started.

“I’m not going **anywhere** with you!” Entrapta declared loudly, shaking her head frantically. “I don’t want to be **near** you!”

The tech princess brought her hands up and clutched the sides of her head, as if in pain.

“I…I don’t know how to process all this…,” she said shakily.

Angella looked at her desperately. “You must understand, I was trying to protect you-,” she tried to plea.

Entrapta stared at her as if she had just said that she would never study tech again. “I **don’t** understand. How was **leaving** me as a **child** protecting me?” Her voice came out at an uncontrolled volume.

Angella’s mouth opened to say something, but she could not.

“You kept me and my father a secret for so long…” Entrapta’s voice was breathless. “Was it really to keep me safe?” Her gaze upon the queen suddenly hardened. “Or were you hiding something? Something that you…were ashamed of?”

Something tried to form from Angella’s mouth. “I…”

Entrapta took slow steps toward the winged queen. Her words became unnervingly calm:

“Keldor’s experiments and what he did to me couldn’t be revealed to your whole kingdom. That’s why you had to hide me far away. It wasn’t just to keep me away from his runestone. You had to bury your secrets, your mistakes…”

Angella stepped back, looking away. “It…It wasn’t that simple…you…I couldn’t…”

“You never stopped to ask what he was doing…” Entrapta came before her, staring at the queen dispassionately. “You never really understood him. You didn’t trust him, did you?”

Angella sunk onto her knees, her translucent wings wilting at her sides, unable to look at the long-haired princess any longer.

“I wasn’t like the other princesses,” Entrapta mused distantly. “I grew up without a runestone. But there **was** a runestone that I was linked to, my father’s creation: the Chaos Crystal.”

She turned her magenta gaze back to the centre of the temple hall where, on a metal column, the small, oval crystal still stood, glowing with a cerise aura. Her lilac hair rose slowly around her, rippling and curling at the ends, as she regarded the crystal with a falling expression.

“You denied me of it, hid it from me and the rest of Etheria. You were afraid of it…and me. You were afraid of what we were, and what we could become…if brought together.”

Her heavy gaze shifted back at the kneeling queen before her.

“You didn’t understand his scientific research into runestone magic. You were afraid of it, of him. But maybe...he wasn’t the one who was wrong…”

She shut her eyes and let out a sigh.

“And the Horde…aren’t the only ones who have hurt others on Etheria. You and the Princess Alliance hurt them too.”

Images of the Fright Zone, of Emily, of Scorpia, of Catra, of Hordak…flashed through her mind.

“The Horde, the Rebellion…Why are people so complicated? Why do there have to be sides? Why do we have to fight each other? Fighting is illogical, senseless. There’s no real difference between us. There’s no good and evil in fighting, no right and wrong sides…only hurt and hatred and fear…”

Her eyes were wet when they opened again. “I think, maybe, you made the right choice after all…”

Angella lifted her head up to her, confused. “What?”

Entrapta seemed to look through the winged queen as she spoke.

“Sending me away to live on my own in Dryl. I would never have fit in in Bright Moon as your heir. And I would never have had the freedom to pursue my scientific interests there. So…you made the right choice to send me away…”

Her thumb began to stroke the fuchsia First Ones’ crystal still in her hand and she looked down at it.

“It was better living alone…with no-one to hurt me…to confuse me…just surrounded by the things I liked…”

The reflection of her face appeared on the crystal’s symbol-inscribed surface. Entrapta gazed at herself with melancholy eyes.

“Out in the real world, friendships and feelings are so…complicated…and hard…and people lie and hurt and do bad things to others, especially those that are different...”

Her fingers wrapped around the crystal, gripping it tightly.

“Everyone lies to me…” She glanced up at Bow, surprising him. The archer and tech-master had been standing quietly nearby, a witness to everything that had transpired between them. “Even you and Adora, Bow. Neither of you ever told me what you learnt from Light Hope about the half-descendant princess of Etherian and First Ones’ heritage. I overheard you both talking before.”

It was as if he’d been hit by a pile of bricks. Bow’s words tumbled out: “Entrapta, we didn’t mean to keep secrets from you! We-”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Entrapta interrupted all too calmly. “I know everything now, and it all makes sense. I was always different…never like the other princesses because…I’m a failed experiment…a failed princess…a mistake…”

She turned away from both Angella and Bow, facing the centre of the temple hall where the Chaos Crystal stood on top of its metal column.

“I really wasn’t made for friendships…I’m not like the rest of you…I don’t…really belong here…”

She walked toward the small, cerise-glowing runestone.

“Entrapta, what are you doing?” Bow asked.

“I don’t belong anywhere…,” she murmured as the Chaos Crystal’s reddish pink light filled her vision. “Keldor…my father…all that’s left of him now are his stones…and his unfinished experiment…”

She stopped before the runestone. From one hand, the fuchsia First Ones’ crystal fell, clattering to the floor beside her. Her hands began to rise.

“I’ll never know him…I’ll never find out what he knew…but maybe…I can at least finish what he started…”

“ **Entrapta! Stop!** ” Angella shouted, rising to her feet quickly.

With eyes transfixed on the Chaos Crystal before her, Entrapta removed her gloves from each hand, letting them drop to the ground.

Angella spread her wings and took to the air. “Entrapta! NO!”

Entrapta reached for the Chaos Crystal with bare fingers.

“A merging…,” she whispered.

Tendrils of cerise-coloured energy crackled around her fingers and travelled up her arms. The crystal glowed brighter as her fingers drew closer to it. The gap closed…

Blinding red light exploded, filling the temple hall.

Angella was halted in mid-air as she brought her arms up to shield her face. Bow covered his face as well. Imp let out a screech.

From a distance, a beam of concentrated red light could be seen shooting out of Beast Island. It punctured the ceiling of the temple, causing a rain of rocks and debris to fall down into the main temple hall. Through the hole it had torn in the temple’s roof, the beam of light erupted up into the grey skies above the island, expanding in circumference as it hit the clouds and burning into the sky.

Entrapta felt the crystal’s power coursing through her. She felt its energies seeping into her, filling her veins, running up her body like fire. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her teeth were clenched as lines of energy travelled up her neck and into her head, collecting at her forehead. She gasped as a connection was formed and the oval, cerise-coloured runestone rose up into the air, floating before her face. With tendrils of reddish pink energy, it reached out for her, drawing itself toward her like a magnet. Attaching itself to her forehead, it merged seamlessly with her flesh, and as it fused, it shone brighter. Her long hair began to glow. Streaks of reddish pink colour emanated from her head and travelled down her long lilac hair. Her dual-coloured hair unravelled from its pigtails, coming loose to flow freely around her. Her eyes snapped open and glowed cerise with the crystal’s energy.

The Chaos Crystal and princess were one.

As the light subsided, Bow and Angella lowered their arms. They gasped when they saw Entrapta. A reddish pink aura radiated from around her. Her hair, lilac and cerise-coloured now, waved around her. On her forehead, between her lilac and cerise bangs, the Chaos Crystal lay implanted.

“Whoah…,” Bow whispered.

The aura diminished and faded from around her. She wobbled, falling onto her knees, then collapsed sideways onto the ground, next to the fuchsia First Ones’ crystal she had dropped earlier. Imp scurried immediately toward her, stopping in front of her face and taking hold of some of her dual-coloured hair. The small, winged clone child emitted a fearful chirp.

Bow and Angella rose to their feet and started to move toward Entrapta’s unconscious form when the entire temple hall suddenly became dark. Bow and Angella looked up through the giant hole that the Chaos Crystal’s power had torn through the temple ceiling. Overhead, something enormous was coming into view, overcasting them and eclipsing their view of the clouds: a massive fortress-like ship hanging in the sky, its size dwarfing the temple and the people inside.

“Is that…the Horde mothership?” Bow uttered.

Before he or Angella could recover from their shock at the sight, a green beam of light materialised in the middle of the temple hall, landing upon Entrapta. The unresponsive princess began to rise within the green beam, lifting off the floor.

“Entrapta!” both Bow and Angella cried.

Imp grabbed the fuchsia First Ones’ crystal from the floor and clutched it under his small arm. Then, spreading his small wings, he leapt off the floor and dove into the green light after his mistress. They floated up and dissipated into it.

“NO!” Bow shouted, running toward the green beam.

It disappeared abruptly before he could reach it. He skidded to a stop at the spot where Entrapta had just laid, staring up in shock at the giant Horde ship. A gigantic green portal was manifesting in front of the ship now, growing large enough to swallow it whole. Bow and Angella watched in disbelief as the entire Horde mothership disappeared through the portal. As soon as the ship had entered it, the portal began to shrink and, with a flash of explosive light, it too disappeared.

For a long moment, Bow and Angella stood speechless at what had just happened.

“This…this can’t be happening,” Angella started to murmur to herself, putting a hand to her face.

Bow looked at Angella and was about to say something when another source of light suddenly caught their attention. Nearby, a smaller blue portal manifested just above the temple floor. Out of it emerged a figure riding a winged horse. It was Adora and Swift Wind. Adora, transformed once again into the towering warrior She-Ra, was larger in size and in new golden armour with white patterning. Swift Wind landed on the floor and the portal promptly closed behind them. Adora lowered herself down off of her colourful steed and looked immediately to Bow and Angella. She noticed their wide-eyed expressions.

“What happened?” she asked quickly.

“Adora, thank goodness, you’re back!” Bow exclaimed, rushing to her in panic. “They…they took Entrapta! Horde Prime has her!”

Adora’s eyes widened immediately. “What? When? How?”

“Just moments ago,” Angella replied heavily, coming up to Adora as well. “A giant Horde mothership appeared in the sky and Entrapta was taken by a beam of green light.” She paused, looking away. “She…connected with the Chaos Crystal. It merged with her.”

Adora looked at Angella incredulously. “What do you mean it merged with her? I thought the crystal wasn’t linked to any princess…”

Angela closed her eyes. “It is…a long story. It was not supposed to happen. But…Entrapta is linked to the Chaos Crystal through her father…He was a First One, like you. And…” She drew in a shaky breath. “…I am her mother.”

Adora stared open-mouthed at the Bright Moon queen.

“You’re…Entrapta’s mother? And her father was…a First One?”

Angella brought her hands up to cradle herself. “Yes…I…told her…just before she merged with the crystal and was taken.”

Adora was silent as a realisation dawned on her. She glanced at Bow. “Entrapta…was the half-descendent princess of Etherian and First Ones’ heritage that Light Hope spoke about…” She then looked back at Angella. “But…how can you be her mother? I thought Glimmer was your only daughter?”

Angella kept her eyes on the floor. “Entrapta was conceived before Glimmer. I met her father years before, during the time of the First Rebellion.”

“Adora, this will have to wait,” Bow said urgently. “We need to rescue Entrapta as well as Glimmer now.”

Adora looked at him, pausing for a moment, then nodded. “We will, Bow. We’ll head back to Mara’s ship, send a message to Bright Moon, let them know what’s happened, then make our next move.”

“And…what is our next move?” Bow asked.

Adora looked firmly at both Bow and Angella. “We’re going to take the fight to Horde Prime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Entrapta's now sporting a new look inspired by her original 80s cartoon and classics figure appearances. Her new hair colour, in addition to her existing lilac purple, is a shade between the red of her original 80s cartoon counterpart and the deep pink of her classics figure, which I have decided to use the colour term 'cerise' to refer to. And the Chaos Crystal has now become a gem on her forehead, also inspired by her original gold tiara that contained an oval red/pink stone in its centre.
> 
> I should also probably point out now that my version of Entrapta in this fic is somewhat darker and more conflicted than what we've seen of her in the show. We've now seen how forgiving Entrapta was and how she never seems to hold a grudge from season 5, but I'm taking her down a more emotionally-challenging and complex path in this fic. So I hope that her reactions and feelings are understandable and not too far from believability for her character.
> 
> Next chapter, Horde Prime and Catra's perspective on their new arrival.


	16. Survivor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horde Prime and Catra make an unexpected discovery at Beast Island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horde Prime's grip on the Princess Alliance tightens as another princess falls captive to him. The few remaining free members of the Rebellion are out of options. And Catra finds herself at a crossroads.
> 
> Thank you again readers for the kudos and comments, comments especially!

They had seen it on the planet’s surface: a small red explosion that had shone momentarily like a star from the face of Etheria. From the flagship’s orbit over her world, Catra had witnessed the phenomenon from the fan-shaped screens above the Horde emperor’s throne. Horde Prime had seen it too, watching in silent interest as the red star had flared then died.

It had appeared over where Beast Island was located, where she had once sent Entrapta to, where She-Ra, Adora, was now supposed to be…

Catra, rooted to the image of Etheria on the screens, had stopped breathing.

Horde Prime was looking intently at alien symbols and figures that had popped up in boxes on the screens now.

“An unknown energy surge…” he murmured. “My old enemy, is that you?”

Catra glanced at the Horde emperor. He had referred to She-Ra as his ancient enemy before when the princesses had revealed that she was on Beast Island. He knew of She-Ra, or at least a previous bearer of her name.

“Trace the energy source and open a portal,” Prime commanded to two clones standing by the screens.

With a dip of their heads, they turned and began working at controls panels to fulfil their emperor’s command.

With clenched fists, Catra watched a giant green portal opening on the screens before her. The screens lit up momentarily as the flagship passed through the portal, then emerged above Beast Island, penetrating the fog around it. From a bird’s eye point of view, strange technological structures with lines of blue and pink lights could be seen jutting out from the island’s foliage.

“The energy signal is emanating from the centre of the island,” one of the clones informed his emperor.

“Visual,” Prime instructed simply.

The image on the screens changed to show a tall structure on the island. There was a gaping hole in the top of it where damage had evidently been done. Something had blown through the roof of the structure.

Then the image moved down the hole in the structure, coming over a small figure lying on the ground below. Catra’s breath caught in her throat again.

“This appears to be the source of the energy signal,” one of the clones reported.

“Bring it aboard,” Prime instructed.

The sound of the teleporter beam being activated was heard, and Catra saw the green light of the beam appear around the figure on the ground, drawing it upwards. Then the green beam manifested ahead of them on the teleportation platform, and a crumpled form was deposited there, along with pieces of rock and metal debris from the fallen island structure. Catra squinted at the still form. It looked like a mass of purple and reddish pink.

Prime approached it. The two clones followed behind him.

“Well, this is unexpected,” Prime uttered, gazing down at the purple and reddish pink mass on the floor.

Catra crept closer to get a better look as Prime knelt down before the form and touched it. His hands delicately moved aside some of the masses of purple and reddish pink to reveal a face hidden underneath.

Prime’s head tilted to one side. “You are not She-Ra...”

From behind Prime, Catra froze at the sight of the face nestled within the purple and reddish pink masses.

Entrapta.

Her eyes were shut. She was unconscious. Her white shirt and overalls were burnt, dirtied and torn at the edges, as if she had been caught in an explosion. More notably though, she looked different. Her long hair, undone from its usual pigtails, lay scattered around her. Its lilac colour was now accompanied by streaks of reddish pink cerise running through it. And gleaming upon her forehead was an oval crystal, reddish pink in colour too.

Catra stepped back in shock, disbelief.

Entrapta was alive. And she had…changed.

Prime was staring down intently at the unconscious princess, four acid green eyes focusing on the cerise-coloured crystal on her forehead. He stood up again, smiling. “Take her to a secure room. Make her comfortable.”

The two clones bowed and came forward to gently pick up the Princess of Dryl, one lifting her small body and the other collecting her long, loose dual-coloured hair. Wordlessly, they carried her away.

“She’s not a part of the Heart of Etheria,” Catra slowly stated, looking up at Prime. “What are you going to do with her?”

Folding his arms behind his back, Prime started to walk away from Catra.

“That is not for you to be concerned about, Catra,” he replied without looking back at her.

He proceeded back towards his white throne. Pausing, he glanced back at her through the corners of his three right eyes.

“Do not disturb our new guest,” he warned subtly. “It would not do if harm were to befall her…again.” The corner of his lips rose. “Would you not agree?”

His implication struck her cold. Catra gripped an arm with one hand.

“Yes, Emperor,” she forced out in a low voice.

Prime resumed his walk back to his throne.

“You are dismissed,” he said with a wave of his hand.

Glaring at him, tail swishing, Catra turned and left.

From behind a piece of metal debris on the teleportation platform, a small winged creature scurried unnoticed across the floor of the ship, disappearing into the shadows.

Adora, Bow, Angella and Swift Wind tumbled out of Entrapta’s giant gorilla-like mecha as it opened its jaws and regurgitated them out in a pile near the shore of Beast Island. It had been a small miracle that the giant robot had possessed enough memory to recognise Adora, Bow and Swift Wind, and enough intelligence to accept them without its creator’s presence among them. A group riding within the giant robotic beast’s cramped interior was never a comfortable experience, but it had brought them back to Mara’s ancient ship safely and efficiently.

The group untangled themselves from each other and picked themselves up hurriedly.

“Hurry, we have to get to the ship and contact Bright Moon,” Adora announced, pointing toward Mara’s ship. She had reverted to her normal self from her new She-Ra form.

Bow, Angella and Swift Wind followed immediately behind her as she led them up the ship’s lowered boarding ramp.

Once inside the control room, Adora leaned over the control panels. Bow came to stand behind her.

“Ship, contact Bright Moon,” Adora ordered.

There was the sound of a transmission signal as the ship attempted to contact the intended recipients. Then the ship’s holographic screen popped up and two familiar faces appeared on it.

“Spinerella, Netossa!” Bow exclaimed with relief.

“Bow! Adora! Thank the moons! You called!” Spinerella exclaimed back from the screen.

“Spinerella, Netossa, where’s King Micah?” Adora asked quickly.

Netossa and Spinerella looked at one another momentarily.

“He, Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Scorpia, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver left to infiltrate the Horde mothership,” Netossa informed. “They’ve not come back and there’s been no contact from them for too long. We’re worried.”

“They’re on the Horde mothership?” Adora said tensely as the news slowly set in.

“Castle Bright Moon was invaded by Horde forces led by Hordak. And Catra was with them,” Spinerella added.

Adora’s eyes widened. “Catra?”

Spinerella nodded. “She was sent by Horde Prime to tell us that he wanted to meet the princesses about the Heart of Etheria. But she also managed to sneak information to us on a device about the Horde mothership, so that we could break in, rescue Glimmer and take down the mothership. At least that was the plan…”

Bow looked at Adora grimly. “So that means…they might all have been captured on the Horde mothership,” he concluded. “This might be a lot worse than we were expecting.”

“Don’t worry. We’re going to get them back. All of them,” Adora promised to the princess couple.

“How?” Netossa asked. “We’ve had to abandon the castle and take refuge in the Whispering Woods. We’re not in good shape right now, Adora.”

“It’s okay,” Adora replied. “You two stay put and focus on keeping the survivors safe.”

“What about you?” Netossa asked further.

“I’m going to get all our friends back,” Adora declared. “I’m the only one who can.”

Adora held out her hand, closing her eyes in concentration. The new Sword of Protection manifested in a flash of light before her fingers. Taking hold of its handle, she held it up to the stunned audience on the holographic screen.

“You…you fixed the sword!” Netossa observed in amazement. “You’re She-Ra again!”

“Yeah, it’s a long story,” Adora replied with a small smile.

“Adora, the Horde were unstoppable at Bright Moon,” Spinerella warned. “Even with She-Ra’s powers, you can’t fight them all by yourself.”

“She’s got back-up,” Bow said firmly, squaring his shoulders beside Adora.

“There’s no time for us to get back to you,” Adora explained. “And we have Mara’s ship. It’s the best mode of transportation we have for getting us to the Horde mothership.”

Spinerella and Netossa glanced at one another on the screen.

“This is dangerous,” Spinerella stated seriously.

“I know,” Adora agreed. “But we’re out of time and options now. We have to get to Horde Prime. He also has Entrapta. We have to rescue her and all the others.”

There was a moment of heavy silence before Netossa responded:

“Then…good luck, Adora.”

“Good luck to all of us,” Adora replied.

The two princesses nodded before the screen shut down.

Bow looked at Adora. “Are we really going to just break into Horde Prime’s mothership?”

Adora returned his look. “We don’t have a choice anymore. He has our friends. And we’re not going to leave them at his mercy.”

She was alive.

After all this time…Entrapta was alive.

In the empty white corridor outside of Prime’s main control hall, Catra slumped against a wall. She shut her eyes as she inhaled shakily.

Entrapta’s expressionless face burned in her mind. Her magenta eyes were vivid, piercing. The new jewel she had seen was there on her forehead, glinting. Her hair, lilac and cerise strands, floated in the air around her, as if suspended by magic.

_“What did you do to me?”_ Entrapta’s monotonous voice echoed.

Catra held her head in her hands, sliding down the wall as she sank onto the floor. 

Why did they have to find Entrapta on Beast Island?

In her mind, she heard the explosive blasts spewing from Hordak’s cannon again, his anguished cries of rage.

_“I **know** about Entrapta!”_ he uttered, voice dripping with pure hatred and fury.

Catra tensed, curling in on herself.

Scorpia appeared before her.

_“You’re a bad friend,”_ the scorpion princess uttered.

Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle stepped into view too.

_“We used to be your friends. Why are you treating us like this?”_ Kyle taunted.

Catra gritted her teeth.

Double Trouble was there, crouching before her, their trademark toothy grin on their face.

_“It’s you, Kitten. You drive them all away,”_ they said with a smirk.

Catra let out a sharp breath.

Then the ice blue eyes of She-Ra glared at her silently from above. Adora’s voice reverberated from the warrior princess’ lips:

_“You made your choice. Now live with it.”_

A tear escaped from one tightly squeezed eye as Catra clutched fistfuls of her own course hair. Her breaths became ragged and her shoulders trembled.

Adora.

Where was Adora? She should have been on Beast Island. They were supposed to find her there. Entrapta shouldn’t have been there. She didn’t want to see the long-haired princess ever again. She didn’t want to face her…She shouldn’t have been alive…

…But she was. And now she was with Horde Prime.

Catra’s claws dug into her palms.

Entrapta was in danger again. There was no-one to save her...except…

A low hiss escaped Catra’s lips. She had sent Entrapta away to die on Beast Island. It had been a mistake. Her unspoken guilt had plagued her dreams ever since. She couldn’t leave her helpless. Not again. She had to do something…

Her blue and yellow eyes opened.

She had to find a way to save Entrapta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta's emergence has thrown a new variable into Horde Prime's hands and presented an unexpected dilemma for Catra. Catra's demons are far from buried, but maybe, just maybe, they might be pushing her in a direction she hadn't expected to find herself heading in.
> 
> I had a plan for how this story would work out from months ago, and I'm going to more or less be sticking to that original plan. However, I've tried to incorporate a few elements from canon season 5 of the show, for instance, I've decided to retain Prime's prior knowledge of She-Ra here. You might see other key moments from the final season echoed in later chapters too.
> 
> Next chapter, a meeting you won't want to miss!


	17. For Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta awakens aboard the Horde flagship and finds herself face-to-face with the Emperor of the Horde.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter than usual this week, you'll be pleased to hear. This one went through so many re-drafts, so I hope it satisfies.
> 
> It's taken 16 chapters to reach this point, but patience finally pays off!
> 
> Enjoy, beloved readers. As always, comments are deeply appreciated.

_A tall alien figure, formidable, distinctive, stood before her, hands clasped behind his back. She could not see his face. His back was turned to her. He was clad in navy blue armour with red highlights and gunmetal grey plates around his arms. A long navy blue skirt, revealing slits at the sides, flapped out below his waistline. A long power cable ran between his mid-spine and the back of a high metal collar covering his lower neck. Long pointed ears extended from the sides of his head. The back of his head was bare, smooth and white. But a mop of dark blue hair fell loosely from the top of his head. The loose dark strands floated in a soundless breeze._

_Hordak._

_Smiling, she lifted her fingers toward him._

_His head turned to her. His luminous red eyes were uncharacteristically warm, softening upon her. In his collar, under his neck, her First Ones’ crystal inscribed with the symbols for ‘L.U.V.D.’ glowed gently. A faint smile appeared on his thin dark lips._

_“Entrapta…,” he whispered into the wind._

Her eyes drifted open. Everything was blurred. She shut them again. When she opened them once more, she made out the vague outline of a tall white figure looming over her. A voice emanated from it.

“Intriguing.” The voice sounded like Hordak’s.

She tried to turn her head toward his voice. Her throat was dry and her words were raspy: “H-…Horda-”

“Not quite, Princess.” The tone of his voice was strange: light, composed, so unlike him. “I am his creator.”

Entrapta’s vision finally cleared and the figure above her came into focus.

Four acid green eyes stared down at her from the familiar face of a white alien being. He had the angled contours of Hordak’s face, but his four green eyes clearly distinguished him from the Horde clone she had known, containing thin black slits for pupils. Long, thick locks of white hair were bundled behind his head, accompanied by four white cables that emerged from the lower back of his head and slotted into covered ports on both sides of his long collar bones. His upper body frame was well-built: broad shoulders, muscular arms, dull blue bare chest on display through a decorative gap in his pure white garments with silver highlights.

There was a resemblance, but he was definitely not Hordak.

“Horde Prime…,” Entrapta said slowly.

He smiled a flawless smile. “In the flesh.”

Entrapta shifted. She realised she was lying down on something soft, a bed. Suddenly feeling self-conscious under Horde Prime’s gaze, she began to push herself up into a sitting position with her loose hair and hands. Her whole body ached as she moved it, but she finally brought herself into an upright position. A white blanket dropped down from her shoulders, revealing her worn and tattered white shirt and torn plum-coloured sleeves. Her workwear was in worse condition than usual, even by her lenient standards. She drew the blanket up to her chest again, attempting to cover her dishevelled state.

From his seated position beside her with crossed legs, Horde Prime seemed to study her.

“A fresh set of garments is being prepared for you,” he casually informed, noticing her attempt to hide the poor state of her clothes.

“Oh,” she replied with a slight blush in her cheeks. “That would be…appreciated. Thank you.”

A wide smile spread across Prime’s lips. Then he dipped his head forward in an elegant bow. “Princess Entrapta of Dryl, it is an exquisite pleasure to meet you at last.”

She flinched as he reached forward with one long, muscular arm and took her small gloved hand in his much larger one. She tensed as he pressed his lips to her knuckles, holding on a touch longer than she thought necessary. He then looked up at her, his face hovering over her hand.

She carefully pulled her hand out his grasp. “You…know me?”

Prime’s lips curled into a devious smile. “ **Intimately.** My little brother’s memories of you were…extremely vivid.”

For a moment, she was rendered speechless. Had he gained access to Hordak’s memories somehow? Had Hordak talked to him in detail about her? She suddenly felt very exposed. But a more important concern quickly came to the forefront of her mind, causing her hair to rise and coil at the ends. “Your…little brother…Hordak…is he-?”

“Here, yes, he is,” Prime responded casually. “Returned to me, as he was meant to be.”

Entrapta fell silent, head and hair drooping. Hordak had returned to his big brother’s side as he had wanted. She wasn’t surprised, but…why did she still feel…disappointed? She had known. He had told her before…

Pushing aside her uncomfortable thoughts, she looked up. For the first time, she noticed the polished white walls around her, the wide expanse of a large room, a dressing table with a long oval mirror, a plush couch and chairs…And above her, glass windows in the shape of fans provided a fleeting view of the stars in Space. Her eyes grew in size and her mouth fell open in wonder.

“Am I…on the Horde mothership?” she exhaled.

“Indeed,” Prime replied with a smirk, “you are aboard the imperial Horde flagship, my base of intergalactic operations, the heart of my empire.”

Entrapta’s enlarged eyes continued to scan the large room in wonder. “I’m in the Horde mothership…This is incredible…” Her wide magenta eyes returned to the Horde emperor. “How did I get here?”

Prime leisurely leaned his face against a raised fist. “We discovered you on Beast Island after detecting a massive energy surge from there. You were unconscious amongst the rubble of a collapsed structure. I had you brought aboard to recuperate and heal.”

Slowly, Entrapta brought a hand to her forehead. Her fingers hovered over a small, oval crystal embedded there. She felt tiny crackles of energy reach out from the gem to stroke her fingertips. She squeezed her eyes shut in discomfort.

Images flashed across her mind all at once: the island, the dreams, Queen Angella, the crystal, light, pain…

“Beast Island…abandoned…his experiment…Chaos Crystal…fusion…” She trailed off.

Horde Prime watched her intently.

“You have clearly been through quite an ordeal, Princess,” he stated calmly. “But you are safe now.”

Uncrossing his legs, he rose from his chair, walking over to a polished white table with a jug of bright green liquid and a glass. Lifting the jug, he poured some of the strangely-coloured liquid into the glass, then picked it up and returned to Entrapta’s bedside. He held the glass of bright green liquid out to her.

“Drink.” He instructed in a low tone.

“What is it?” she asked, looking down at the glass curiously.

“Nourishment,” he replied simply.

Tentatively, she took the glass of green liquid from him with a lilac strand of hair. She looked down at it, noting the transparency of the bright green liquid. Perhaps it was some form of plant derivative solution? She glanced up at him, feeling his four green eyes on her, waiting expectantly. She returned her gaze down to the glass and brought it up to her lips, taking an experimental sip. Her eyes widened.

“It’s…fizzy,” she observed.

“Is it not to your taste?” Prime queried, head tilting slightly to the side.

“No, it’s…perfect…,” Entrapta replied, eyes remaining fixed on small bubbles rising in the green liquid.

Prime’s four eyes focused on her as she took a longer sip of the strange fizzy green drink. A smile crept onto his lips.

“I am aware of your specific tastes,” he informed conversationally. “It is a concoction of Arcsian berry juices combined with carbonated water. My little brother noted your preference for such kinds of ‘fizzy’ beverages.”

Entrapta stopped drinking, lowering her glass. Tentatively, she looked over at Prime.

“He…noticed that?” she asked cautiously.

Prime’s smile widened. “He ‘noticed’ a great many things about you, Princess: your strong interest in robotics and ancient tech, your preference for miniature foods, your study of social behaviours and interactions...”

He leaned forwards toward her. She backed away slightly, pressing into the pillows of her bed. He lifted a silver-capped clawed finger to her forehead, his four green eyes focusing on the spot above her eyes.

“This, however, is new.” His silver-capped finger stopped short of touching the cerise oval crystal on her forehead. “Such a stunning jewel. Would this be the…’Chaos Crystal’ you mentioned? Some form of runestone perhaps?”

His multi-eyed gaze wandered unsubtly down her rivers of loose lilac and cerise-coloured hair spread out around her on the bed. “I would guess your change in hair colours is attributable to this crystal too.”

Entrapta suddenly looked down at her own hair. For the first time, she took notice of the cerise strands interweaving with her natural lilac hair. Lifting a tendril of dual-coloured hair, she stared at it, sinking into deep thought.

“The Chaos Crystal…I…it…reacted to me…opened a portal to Eternia…I think…it merged with me…” Her gloved fingers rose to the crystal on her forehead again. “He made it…it was his runestone… **my** runestone…I never had one before…I was always missing something…searching for answers for so long…I never realised…” She trailed off, quietening. Her eyes lowered. “She kept it hidden from me…I was different, strange…a mistake, failure…I’m not fully Etherian…half First One…Eternian…I never…really belonged here…”

Prime brought a hand up to his chin, holding it. His gaze drifted away from her.

“Eternian, of course…,” he thought aloud. “The massive energy surge we detected from Beast Island…It originated from your Chaos Crystal…Eternian technology harnessing Etherian runestone magic…magnificent…”

His gaze returned to her, accompanied by a disarming smile.

“Princess,” he said, his voice like honey, “you are a rare gem: unique, combined with your crystal in a way unlike any other princess of your world.”

He reached forward and laid a large hand over a patch of her dual-coloured hair lying on top of her blanket. Slowly, his clawed fingers raked through her strands. Entrapta’s gaze dropped to his moving hand as he spoke softly:

“You are a **living runestone** , the embodiment of assimilated First Ones’ and Etherian power, a scientific **miracle**.”

“A scientific miracle?” she echoed, eyes lifting slightly.

Prime leaned in toward her. “You said you have opened a portal before. Think of what you could do with such power. You might even be able to open a gateway into the heart of your world.”

Her eyes brightened. “The Heart of Etheria? Yes…I must have drawn power from it to open the portal to Eternia…like how She-Ra channelled its power…because she’s a First One, an Eternian…I was able to access that power too…because I’m half Eternian…”

Lilac and cerise tendrils of hair rose and curled around her as her mind ran through explanations and theories. Her magenta eyes, wide and unfocused, glittered with rising enthusiasm.

“Imagine the possibilities of being able to access the reservoir of power at the heart of your world.” Prime’s voice was husky, barely above a whisper next to her ear. “With so much power, anything would be possible. It would be a scientific achievement like no other.”

Entrapta’s eyes fully lit up.

“Like no other…,” she repeated in awe.

Then she stopped herself and brought her gaze down, a troubled frown settling on her face.

“She-Ra was the one that was destined to activate the Heart of Etheria…,” she said thoughtfully, “but she refused because it was too dangerous…”

Prime’s voice, rich and soothing, filtered into her ears again:

“You are different from her. You are not afraid to experiment. You could do what she could not. You could fulfil the purpose she failed to by unlocking the Heart of Etheria and controlling its power.”

His voice dropped to a promise-laden whisper:

“With Horde technology and assistance, I could help you to achieve your highest potential.”

His warm breath brushed against her ear:

“I could even arrange for my little brother to work alongside you again.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart stopped. Slowly, she turned her head to face him.

“You’d…let him be my lab partner again?” she uttered shakily.

The smile could be heard in Prime’s voice:

“You could be reunited with him, yes.”

For a long moment, Entrapta said nothing as a mix of conflicting emotions passed through her mind and heart. Her face and body were paralysed.

“But…,” she whispered uncertainly, “he left me behind on Beast Island…He doesn’t need me anymore…”

A humourless chuckle escaped Prime’s lips. “Oh, Princess…how mistaken you are.”

Entrapta’s gaze was drawn to him now as she looked at him in confusion. 

“I probed his chaotic mind.” Prime looked down absently at his sharpened claws as he spoke. “Before I wiped it clean of memories, I saw every thought and wish that he ever had.”

Entrapta eyes widened. “You…wiped his memories?”

“It was a necessity,” Prime responded tonelessly, four eyes returning to her. “He had become mentally defective. Reconditioning was required. But he remains intact…and restored to health and vitality.”

Entrapta fell silent as she took in everything that she was hearing. The Hordak she knew was gone. His mind had been wiped. But he was still alive…and functioning…

“Do you know what I saw at the centre of his corrupted mind?”

Prime’s question cut through her thoughts, drawing her attention back to him.

He leaned forward, face approaching hers. His four green eyes narrowed. “You.”

The world came to a stop. She could not think, could not breathe. For a fleeting moment, she thought she must have misheard. She could not have been in Hordak’s thoughts. He had left her, had no need of her…

A tendril of her hair reached up instinctively for the mask on top of her head, only to find it absent. It must have been left behind on Beast Island. There was no way to physically hide her emotions from others now. Her face was laid open to Prime’s all-seeing eyes. She wanted to look away from his invasive gaze, but she found herself unable. Her wide eyes remained fixed on him.

“Are you surprised?” Like a snake, Prime’s low voice slid into her ears and into her heart. “You were the only one he let in, the one who he let down his guard for, the one who he…kept by his side. You were…special to him.”

Entrapta’s voice was small, unsure. “We worked together on the portal machine for a while before...” She looked away, her lilac and cerise hair falling over her eyes. “We were…friends.”

“ **Friends?** ” Prime began to laugh, a low, reverberating chuckle that grew rapidly in volume, echoing in the expanse of the room. “Is that what you believe you and he were?”

Entrapta looked up at him in confusion. She and Hordak had been friends. What else could they have been? She failed to see what was so humorous about it.

Prime seemingly continued to derive amusement from her confusion, still chuckling. “Can it be? Can it be that what you did to my little brother was purely accidental? By unintended chance? And here I thought you perhaps to be some kind of enchantress with irresistible power, judging from how thoroughly **besotted** my little brother was with you!”

Entrapta felt her whole body become numb as an unknown force seized her.

“I don’t…understand…,” she murmured, barely aware of her own lips moving.

Calm once again, Prime peered at her through narrowing eyes, studying her.

“Were you truly so oblivious, Princess?” he asked rhetorically. “Did you not see how he **looked** at you? How he **smiled** at you? How the very **sight** of you captivated his attention? How he kept you by his side? How he hung on your every word? How he allowed you close enough to touch him? To hold him? How he threw himself over you without regard for his own safety to shield you from an exploding portal machine? Were you truly blind to the fact that you were so much more than a friend in his eyes?”

More than a friend…to him. Prime’s words hit her with the force of a sledgehammer, seeping into her heart. Had Hordak felt more for her than she had dared to believe? Was it possible? Her heart was beating harder in her chest now. Breathing was becoming difficult.

Prime’s words continued to crash into her ears like oncoming waves:

“He did not know you were on Beast Island until long after you were sent there, courtesy of your ‘friend’, Catra. She deceived him, told him that you had betrayed him for the princesses, and he believed her. That is why he did not come for you. That is why, instead, he spent months grieving, seething, wallowing, yearning to see you again on the battlefield. By the time he found out the truth about you, he believed it was too late. He believed you were gone. Oh, you have no idea how he **raged** , how he **ached** , how he **wept** for you.”

Entrapta could hear him, but it was like his voice was becoming distant, like she was listening to him from under water. Something was surging within her, restless, struggling to break free, a feeling she did not know how to identify.

Prime observed her frozen expression with interest. He leaned in closer to her. “The truth is: he did not want to return to me, not truly. What he really wanted…was to be with you.”

He watched her eyes widen.

His voice dropped to a devastating depth. “All he ever thought about, desired, yearned for, was **you**. He **loved** you.”

Loved.

The word struck her with the force of an explosion, sending everything into shutdown: her heart, her breath, her body, time itself. For what must have been the longest moment of her life, Entrapta was robbed of the ability to speak. She felt her eyes becoming wet.

When they returned to her, her words were shaky and barely audible: “Loved…me?”

Prime lifted a large hand and delicately ran the back of his fingers down the dual-coloured hair framing the side of her face. “My poor, confused little princess. You have been ignored, misunderstood and abandoned by others. You do not understand what it means to be loved, do you? Like my little brother, you know yourself to be a failure.”

He paused, his four green eyes narrowing upon her. “But unlike him, you believe your failures to be acceptable, your flaws to be strengths, your **imperfections** to be unique and… **beautiful**. That is what you told him, is it not?”

He brought the side of his curled index finger under her chin, drawing her face towards his. His gaze upon her intensified. She stared back at him with still, fearless eyes.

“Yes, I see now,” he said softly. “That is how you made him fall for you, that is how you ensnared his heart. And you did it without even realising it. You forged a bond with him that you could not recognise the depth of. You had no idea what you did to him, how deeply you changed him, corrupted him…”

Prime’s words were interrupted by the sound of doors opening then. Pulling herself from his contact, Entrapta turned her head to an open doorway. Standing there, under cover of shadows, was the outline of a tall figure. As the figure stepped forward into the light of the room, Entrapta’s eyes widened. Her mouth fell open. The glass she had be holding fell from her fingers and shattered on the stainless white floor beside her bed, sending shards scattering.

“Hordak…,” she uttered hoarsely.

The room around her, and even Horde Prime, disappeared as her vision tunnelled onto the familiar male alien approaching her. Wordlessly, he dropped down onto a knee and bowed before her, lowering his head. Without looking up, he brought his arms forward and held out a long white dress displaying a dark grey version of the winged Horde emblem.

“Princess, I have prepared a new garment for you,” he stated humbly. It sounded unlike him, Entrapta thought dully.

Focused on the kneeling form of Hordak before her, she was barely aware of Prime speaking:

“Place it on the chair for the princess to change into later.”

She watched Hordak rising gracefully from the floor and walking over to a white chair by the dressing table, carefully laying the dress over it.

She took in the sight of him fully. He was in a white uniform dress with the dark grey winged Horde emblem emblazoned across his wide chest; silver armour plating covered his broad shoulders and long arms; and a silver-lined, dark grey cape with a tall collar hung down behind him from his shoulder plates. His dark blue hair was combed back, not a strand out of place; his fine black lips were set in a flat line; his cheeks seemed more fleshed out, not as thin and hollow as before; and his eyes…his eyes were wide and…green, like Horde Prime’s.

He was walking back toward her now.

Her eyes travelled down his body. He was without supportive armour now, but he seemed bigger, his body fuller, healthier, muscled…He looked like he had been aged in reverse somehow, reverted to a younger state…

Her hair rose around her, curling, vibrating with nervous energy. He was here…before her…at long last…within reach…Was this another dream? Cautiously, as he came to a stop before her, she slid off the bed and crossed the distance between them on long, sweeping legs of her dual-coloured hair. Approaching him tentatively, she looked up into his white face, both familiar and unfamiliar.

“Do you remember me?” she asked quietly. “I’m Entrapta…your lab partner.”

Hordak regarded her through squinted eyes: her open face, her impossibly long purple and reddish pink hair, her petite body in tattered clothes…As she drew closer, his breath stilled of its own accord. Her proximity caused a reaction in him: he felt a nervousness building in his gut, his chest tightening, a paralysis gripping his body…The hazy purple image stirred again in the back of his mind. He had no memory of this princess, and yet there was something familiar about her…Her long lilac and cerise hair and magenta eyes captured his vision, and he found himself spellbound. Drawn by unknown forces, he drifted toward her, tilting his face down to hers, close enough to smell her strangely comforting scent…

“Entrapta…,” he repeated like a prayer.

Strands of her lilac and cerise hair reached forward and wrapped around one of his hands, sliding through his fingers. He looked down at the dual-coloured hair coiling around his hand in fascination, then brought his gaze back up to the face of the long-haired princess.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “We can work this out, together.”

She smiled and an expression that was a combination of bewilderment and contentment overcame Hordak’s face. Unconsciously, his fingers closed around the smooth strands of lilac and cerise hair running through them.

They stood tied together as Horde Prime watched them intently, a metal-capped finger over his lips in thought.

So, this was what his wayward little brother would have left him for, what he wanted to rebel for. Here was the source of his corruption on Etheria, the origin of his sin, an evil that bound both he and the princess together as one.

Such sin should have been condemned and cleansed away. His little brother and the princess were irrevocably corrupted, a source of evil that needed to be eradicated and burned from existence. But at this moment, it was a necessary evil. The princess possessed the potential to access the Heart of Etheria. His little brother’s sacrilegious connection to her could be used to sway her to do his will, and through her, he would be granted the power of her world.

Prime approached Entrapta slowly, coming to stand behind her. He eyed his little brother who was as focused on her as she was on him, seemingly paralysed in the grip of her hair around his hand. Leaning down to her ear, Prime spoke in a low voice:

“You have been alone without him, have you not, Princess? No-one else on your world ever understood and accepted you in the way **he** did, in the way the **Horde** does.”

Hooking her chin under his metal-tipped finger, Prime brought her face up towards his. She did not resist, only stared up at him with fragile eyes. 

Prime smiled gently. “I offer him now to you reborn, made whole again, all of his defects and destructive memories wiped away. All I ask is that you use your power to access your planet’s core, and grant me the power I need to bring my peace and order across the universe.”

He tilted his head down closer to hers, voice dropping to a whisper: “Give me the Heart of Etheria, and I will give you your heart’s greatest desire.”

His four eyes swept back up to Hordak, and Entrapta followed his gaze, looking at her one-time lab partner longingly.

“You know what you must do, Princess,” Prime whispered, “for science…and for love.”

Somewhere above, unbeknownst to all, a pair of small, glowing yellow eyes peered down through a gap in the ceiling. A little winged spy sitting in pipes had been watching everything. In his short, chubby arms, a diamond-shaped, fuchsia-coloured crystal, inscribed with the First Ones' symbols for 'L.U.V.D.', pulsed with a flickering glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Hordak and Entrapta finally reunited! Though Hordak's still missing his memories, mostly.
> 
> In a way similar to how Double Trouble revealed devastating truths to Hordak and Catra at the end of season 4, I had Horde Prime here being the one to tell Entrapta about the true depth of Hordak's feelings for her, to sway her to his will of course.
> 
> For those who were left wanting more from Entrapdak in season 5, I aim to better satisfy your cravings with this fic. Things should be getting more interesting now as we approach the final stage of this story. Stay tuned, readers.
> 
> Next chapter, Hordak deals with confusing feelings.


	18. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak experiences strange and familiar feelings around Entrapta as they begin testing on an alien substance that is sensitive to magic. Meanwhile, Catra encounters a mysterious clone while searching for Entrapta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting a re-written Chapter 18 here as I was dissatisfied with the previous version and needed to do some better set-up for later chapters. I've expanded, changed and broken up scenes from the previous version. And I've been making a lot of changes to my forthcoming chapters as well. I generally aim to post updates to this fic at weekends, but with all the changes and re-writing I'm now working on, my updates might be a bit slower in future. I might end up needing a couple of weeks to get new chapters out at times. We'll see.
> 
> Anyway, so, I hope you enjoy this re-written chapter. As always, kudos and comments are much appreciated, particularly comments!

Hordak strode with purpose down a white corridor of the Horde flagship, hands hanging in loose fists at his sides, long, dark grey cape billowing out behind him.

Images of the strange, long-haired princess from Beast Island filled his thoughts: her lilac and cerise-coloured strands running through his fingers, her small yet searing smile, her bright magenta eyes that radiated exuberance.

He arrived at a set of doors and paused. He stared at them. His fists unfurled at his sides. One of his hands rose to the top of his chest, underneath his neck, touching an empty space there. Lowering his head, he shut his green eyes and inhaled and exhaled audibly through his nasal cavity. His eyes re-opened and his hand dropped from his chest.

Finally, he stepped forward and the doors parted.

He walked into a vast white lab filled with computer screens, machinery and equipment. Further in, standing upon a raised platform, was a towering circular metal frame that was hollow in the centre. Connected to it by long cables extending from its sides was a large glass tank filled with a silvery white metallic fluid.

A spider-like form raised up on long legs hovered over the cables attached to one side of the metal frame. As Hordak approached, it turned round on its long legs to reveal a small human female suspended on long lilac and cerise-coloured pigtails:

Princess Entrapta.

Her worn and tattered work garments from Beast Island had been replaced. She was now fitted into a white halterneck dress, emblazoned on the front and back with the Horde’s symbolic dark grey wings. The dress accentuated the outline of her petite and full-bodied form, hugging the rounded contours of her hips, rear and bosom. Long dark grey gloves that rose past her elbows covered her arms.

Her magenta eyes brightened as they fell upon Hordak. An enchanting smile lit up her face.

“Hordak! There you are!” she exclaimed jubilantly.

Hordak blinked and suddenly realised that he had been staring at her. His long ears flattened by the sides of his head and his cheeks flushed bright red. Hastily, he looked down and dropped onto a knee before her.

“Princess Entrapta!” he greeted clumsily. “I am here to assist-”

He was abruptly cut off when she swept towards him on her long legs of hair, as fast and agile as a real spider. Hordak froze when one of her dual-coloured legs of hair suddenly wrapped around his armoured arm and yanked him to his feet.

“I’m glad you’re here!” she cried with unrestrained glee. “I want to show you what I’ve discovered! It’s so exciting!”

She swiftly lowered herself to her feet before him and suddenly grabbed hold of his hand with her gloved one, surprising him. She took off toward a work table scattered with tools, pulling him behind her. As they ran, he stared down at their linked hands in bewilderment. An inexplicable sense of elation rose within him.

“I’ve made great progress with the technorganic liquid alloy that Horde Prime provided!” she was announcing proudly. “It conducts and absorbs magical energy as he said! But its potential applications are far more versatile! I’ve been able to manipulate it in fascinating ways with the energies of my runestone!”

They came to an abrupt stop by the messy work table and she reached for a cylindrical vial on it with a tendril of her hair. Contained within the vial was the silvery white metallic fluid from the tank.

“This is a sample of the technorganic liquid alloy!” she informed impatiently, holding the vial up to Hordak’s face. “Watch its reaction when I expose it to my runestone’s powers!”

With a strand of hair, Entrapta unscrewed the cap from the top of the vial. The oval, cerise crystal on her forehead began to emit a soft red glow and the silvery white fluid rose out of the vial as if weightless. She raised her hand to the fluid floating in the air and it wrapped around her hand, enveloping it.

“It responds to my runestone’s magic!” she squealed as the metallic fluid encompassed her fingers to the tips. “I can will it into any shape I want! Just think of the possibilities: armour, tools, parts, limbs, extensions! It has virtually unlimited implications for physical enhancements!”

Hordak watched in awe as the metallic fluid covered her arm in a layer of smooth, silvery white skin.

She lifted her coated arm vertically. “See? Armour! Frictionless, flexible, self-repairing and damage-resistant!” She tapped the smooth armour with a fist.

“Impressive indeed…,” Hordak exhaled, gazing at her displayed arm until she lowered it.

“It’s capable of conducting and holding the energies of my runestone too!” she piped in delight. “Which means, theoretically, it should be capable of channelling and absorbing the magical energies of the Heart of Etheria!” Her voice rose sharply at her last words as excitement flooded out of her. She made a little happy sound.

Hordak’s long ears had perked up as he was listening to her, his own curiosity and amazement aroused. She was uniquely brilliant. Her knowledge and thirst for scientific discovery knew no bounds. He found himself struck dumb by her unbridled brilliance, her exuberance, her limitless potential, how her mind was brighter than any other he had ever encountered, perhaps even rivalling the intelligence of Prime…

Hordak squashed the traitorous thought immediately. None were greater than Prime.

Yet, as he took in the sight of her: her forehead illuminated in a soft red glow, lilac and cerise hair curling energetically around her, magenta eyes ablaze with passion, he could not help but verbalise his wonder at her magnificence:

“Horde Prime deemed this Krytian liquid alloy unusable after failed tests. But you have succeeded in mastering it. Such an achievement is…praiseworthy.”

She looked at him and a small smile graced her lips. “Thanks.”

They gazed into one another’s eyes wordlessly.

Then Hordak looked away, clearing his throat.

“Horde Prime will…surely be pleased with your efforts,” he offered awkwardly.

Entrapta’s eyes dropped to the floor shyly and a red blush suffused her cheeks.

“I’d be happy if **you** were pleased,” she said in a quiet voice.

He froze. If **he** were pleased.

A strange warmth filled him. His opinion mattered…to her.

He was not sure whether to be shocked or elated. For someone to think that his opinion, the opinion of a mere clone, mattered more than Horde Prime’s was…unheard of. It was blasphemous. It was **dangerous**.

And yet, as he looked down at this small, long-haired princess, he could not help wondering, if only for a moment, what it would be like to share more of his thoughts with her, to speak to her as an equal, for his words and opinions to matter to **her**. It was a delusion, but one which he found he had no desire to resist the draw of.

He tried to speak. “I…”

A strand of her hair lifted up to his face and laid upon his lips, silencing him. His green eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s okay. I know,” she said with a gentle smile.

Turning away from him then, she produced the cylindrical vial from her hair. The cerise crystal on her forehead flickered and the metallic armour coating her arm began to slide off and back into the vial.

“We need to run a portal test with the liquid alloy to determine its capacity for energy absorption,” she stated, quickly moving back to scientific thoughts.

She screwed the cap back onto the re-filled vial and returned it to the work table with her hair. “If the alloy can successfully channel and absorb power from a portal, then we’ll be able to use it for extracting power from the Heart of Etheria!”

She looked to Hordak again with a focused expression. “l need you to activate the portal machine for me.”

Her initial words repeated themselves in his mind:

_“I need you…”_

Unbidden words joined them:

_“I need her…”_

_“…the portal…”_

He blinked.

He looked up at the giant circular frame, the portal generator. A familiar sense of discomfort crept into him as he looked from the portal generator to Entrapta. She was looking up at the giant frame as well, a distant look in her eyes.

“You are certain of this?” he asked.

She blinked as if returning from some daydream and looked at him again. Her smile seemed half-hearted this time.

“The liquid alloy should essentially siphon the portal’s energies once activated,” she responded factually. “But I need to see how much power it can handle.”

He glanced away from her momentarily, pushing his discomfort down. This was not the time to have doubts, he scolded himself. Horde Prime had tasked them with finding a way to extract the Heart of Etheria’s power using the magic-receptive Krytian liquid alloy. This portal test was necessary to achieve that goal.

“Understood,” Hordak acknowledged finally. He turned briskly and made his way toward the controls next to the portal generator. “I will initiate portal activation.”

“I’ll re-check the connections,” Entrapta announced as she raised herself up on legs of hair.

On her spider-like legs of hair, she made her way back towards the towering circular metal frame and the large tank of metallic fluid. Moving agilely over them, she looked over the cables connecting the two.

At the control panel for the portal generator, Hordak began operating the machine. And after a few minutes of checking the equipment and connections, Entrapta headed back to join him.

“We’re ready to initiate testing!” she called.

Hordak nodded and waited for her to reach his position before pulling a lever down.

“Portal activating,” he announced.

The circular frame of the giant portal generator lit up and hummed to life. Within its hollow centre, a swirling vortex of green light flashed into existence. Wind currents swept through the vast lab as a portal materialised, lifting Hordak’s dark grey cape and Entrapta’s long pigtails into the air. The cables attached to the sides of the giant portal frame thrummed as energy passed through them into the large tank. The liquid alloy in the tank began to glow with a green charge, lapping with increasing force against the glass of the tank.

“It’s working!” Entrapta declared excitedly, staring wide-eyed at the green lights of the portal.

In the tank, the green energy-charged liquid alloy swirled faster. Its glow increased in intensity, encompassing the entire tank in a green aura. A rising charging sound emanated from it and the tank’s glass suddenly cracked.

Hordak was suddenly running at Entrapta, reaching for her arm. She turned to look at him in surprise as he shouted: “It’s overloading! Entrapta-”

There was blinding green light. The deafening roar of an explosion. Their bodies being thrown to the floor.

When Hordak opened his eyes, he found himself face-down on the floor, curling over something underneath him. Slowly, he tried to push himself up on his arms. He felt heavy. There was something hanging from him. He looked down…

…and saw what he was leaning over:

Entrapta was curled up beneath him, gripping the back of his neck with one arm, head pressed into his chest. He could feel her hair wrapped tightly around his body and limbs. Her eyes were still squeezed shut.

Shielding her with his body. Her beneath him. It felt…natural…familiar…like he had done it before.

That was ridiculous.

But as she pulled her head back and slowly opened her eyes, bringing her glistening magenta gaze up to his, his breath seized in his throat.

He stared at her, mesmerised. The grip of her hair around him loosened.

“Hordak…” The name he could not remember fell from her delicate pink lips in a murmur.

They were still as they looked at one another. Hordak was faintly aware of her hand pressed on his upper chest, underneath his neck, over the spot that had felt empty for so long. The warmth of her small palm seemed to fill the emptiness, like something missing had finally been found again, something intimate that he had greatly missed. His heart was beating harder in his chest. He could hear it thundering in his ears now. He was shocked by the force of his own feelings, by how they took command of his heart, his body. Unconsciously, his hand rose to hers upon his chest.

Entrapta’s eyes fell to his rising hand.

“Your arm…,” she said almost inaudibly.

He followed her gaze down to his arm. Coldly, he realised the armour of his lower right arm had been severely damaged by the explosion. Pieces were breaking off and loose wires hung. Scarred and discoloured skin on his arm was exposed: branching white veins spreading across his dull blue skin were visible.

He rose to his feet quickly, immediately hiding his unsightly arm under his cape. His head and ears lowered in shame.

“It is of no consequence,” he stated stiffly.

Pushing herself up from the floor, Entrapta looked at him with soft eyes. She reached for him with a hand and long pigtail.

“Hordak…,” she started tentatively.

He turned away from her abruptly.

“I must go,” he said hastily.

He left her amongst the debris of the lab, feeling her sad eyes upon him as he fled from her presence.

The doors to a room filled with computer screens slid open and Catra, tail swishing, walked in. She cast furtive glances around her as she walked cautiously into the room. Her blue and yellow eyes scanned the screens around her. Her attention settled on a cluster of screens playing live video images of the captive princesses and sorcerers in their prison cells.

She spotted a restless Glimmer pacing across her furnished white cell on one screen; King Micah, hands cuffed behind him, leaning against a cell wall on another screen; a depressed-looking Scorpia sitting on the floor, hugging her legs; Shadow Weaver, hands also restrained behind her, standing glaring at the forcefield keeping her locked in her cell.

Uncomfortably, Catra looked away from them.

She had given them up to Horde Prime. Doing so had kept them all alive and secured her position with the Horde emperor. Glimmer had called her a traitor to Etheria. She was right. There was no turning back from that now.

But she knew the hard truth that none of the other princesses were willing to admit: without She-Ra, they had no chance against Horde Prime.

Survival was all that mattered now.

She did what she had to do.

Her thoughts returned to her reason for being in the video surveillance room:

Entrapta.

The feline woman looked over the various screens again. There was no sign of the tech princess in any of the prison cells, or any other visible area on board the flagship. Her brow furrowed in frustration.

“Where is she?” she grumbled to herself.

Apparently, Horde Prime was keeping her concealed. This worried Catra. How much of her had the Horde emperor seen from Hordak’s memories? Enough to have gleaned her potential usefulness? Her knowledge of First Ones’ tech? The portal she and Hordak had built together? Was he interrogating her for knowledge? Forcing her to build new tech for him? Torturing her? Playing with her?

Catra took a deep breath, pushing down the worst of her fears.

“Greetings, General Catra.”

A new voice from behind her provoked a sharp hiss from her, and she spun round to face the source of it.

It was a clone, a lower-ranking one judging by his simple white and dark grey uniform. He was stood a short distance from her, looking at her with blank green eyes. Catra consciously relaxed her posture, smoothing her frizzed hair back down with a hand.

“Oh, um, hey there,” she replied, forcing her voice into a neutral tone. “What are you doing here?”

The clone stared at her unblinking for a moment before bringing his arms in front of and behind himself and taking an elaborate bow.

“I am here to offer assistance to you,” he stated blandly.

Catra cocked an eyebrow suspiciously at him. “You…are? Did Horde Prime send you?”

“No,” the clone replied expressionlessly. “I observed you entering this surveillance room and assumed you were in need of something.”

Catra began to slide away from the screens behind her. “Er, no. I was just checking on the prisoners. I’m leaving now.”

She turned to leave.

“Perhaps you were searching for someone specific, General,” the clone offered.

Catra stopped in her tracks and looked back at him in surprise.

The clone folded his hands behind him. “Perhaps you would be interested to know the whereabouts of the princess from Beast Island?” His voice was almost completely flat as he spoke.

Catra’s eyebrows raised. “You…you know where Princess Entrapta is?” She quickly corrected her expression into one of disinterest and crossed her arms. “I mean, not that it matters to me. I’m just…curious.”

Without looking away from her, the clone produced a small tracker pad device from behind himself. He held it out to her.

“Princess Entrapta is in the research and development sector. You can follow this map to her location,” he stated expressionlessly again.

Catra glanced down at the small pad device in his hand, then back up at his face. Cautiously, she reached for his offering.

“Um, thanks,” she said uncertainly.

The clone bowed once again with a flourish of his hands. “It is my honour to be of assistance to you, General Catra.” He straightened and turned to leave. He cast a glance over his shoulder back at her as he approached the doors. “Perhaps I may be of further assistance to you later.” His lips rose upwards subtly.

Catra blinked. Had the clone just…smiled at her?

They never smiled.

The doors opened and he exited swiftly. Catra began to run after him.

“Hey! Wait a minute!” she called.

She sprinted to the open doorway and stuck her head out into the white corridor outside. She looked both ways. It was empty. He was gone.

Her eyebrows furrowed.

How had he vanished so quickly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The liquid alloy is going to be important in later chapters. That's all I'll say on it.
> 
> One of the changes I wanted to do with Hordak and Entrapta's scene here was to explore what it was that made their partnership work in the first place. It's meant to be a reminder of their season 3 bonding moments when they worked together on the portal. Hordak may not remember Entrapta, but that doesn't mean he isn't still susceptible to her charms!
> 
> As for Catra's mysterious clone? I'll let you come up with your own theories. Or you can just wait to find out.
> 
> Next chapter, Glimmer and Hordak have very different family conversations.


	19. The Ties that Bind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer has a heart-to-heart with her father in the Horde mothership's prisons whilst Hordak faces his big brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been making changes to this and future chapters and dealing with real life issues. Still trying to keep to weekend updates, but if I'm a bit slower in future to update, please bear with me. I do intend to get to the end of this fic, but I want to try and write it as well as I can!
> 
> The second part of this chapter will be familiar to those of you who read my earlier version of chapter 18, but there are some minor changes in details and altered or added lines.
> 
> **Warning** : There's some threatening behaviour and abuse in this chapter. Nothing ultra violent, but will be disturbing and potentially distressing to some readers. Remember to love and care for yourselves, folks!
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are well-apprecated!
> 
> Now, without further ado...

Glimmer sat with her back against the wall. She was looking up at the pristine but bland ceiling of her cell. Save for being smaller, the cell wasn’t all that different from the large guest room Horde Prime had given her when she was his still his ‘honoured guest’. It was as white and sterile as all of the Horde mothership’s rooms seemed to be, furnished with the basic necessities of a bed, wash area, table and chair. If not for the green forcefield barrier that kept her locked in and cut off her view of the outside, it could have been a cosy little guest room.

At least Horde Prime was decent enough to keep his prisoners in clean and comfortable surroundings, Glimmer thought with dry humour.

She leaned her head back onto the wall and turned her face sideways toward it.

“Dad?” she called at the wall in a loud whisper. “You there?”

“I’m here, Baby Girl,” responded her father’s voice from the other side of the cell wall.

In the next cell, King Micah was similarly sitting with his back against the wall, speaking at it in a low voice. 

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Sorry, you’re not a baby anymore. You’re Queen of Bright Moon now. It’s just…still hard for me to believe that my little girl has grown up so fast. All the while I was on Beast Island, I always thought of my little sparkly princess in Bright Moon.”

Glimmer smiled to herself. “I’ll always be your little girl, Dad. And I’m so glad that you’re alive and here with me now. If only Mom could…” She hesitated. “It would have made her so happy to see you again,” she finished in a quieter tone.

Micah leaned his head to the wall beside him. “Your mother would be so proud to see the queen you’ve become,” he offered comfortingly, “just as I am.”

Glimmer was quiet for some moments. She shut her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

“Dad, I…I made terrible mistakes,” she confessed. “It’s my fault the Heart of Etheria was activated and Horde Prime found Etheria. Adora and Bow tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.” Her voice shook. “I was so desperate to be the queen that saves Etheria that I lost sight of what I was doing and how I was treating my closest friends.”

Her eyes squeezed shut tighter. “I said horrible things to them!” she blurted, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “And I ended up endangering all of Etheria! I really screwed up! And I don’t know if they’ll ever forgive-”

“Glimmer,” Micah cut her off, “Adora and Bow still care about you. They left to find a way to rescue you and save Etheria. They were so worried about you when I was with them. They’re willing to do anything to bring you home. You’ve got loyal friends in them.”

With an arm, Glimmer wiped the beads of tears from the corners of her eyes and allowed a small smile to appear on her lips. “You’re right. They’ve always had my back. They’re my best friends.”

“And…you should know,” Micah gazed down at the floor sombrely, “your mother wasn’t always perfect either. She made decisions she regretted back during the time of the first Rebellion too, with the Horde, with those she loved...and lost…” He shut his eyes.

A heavy silence descended between them, Micah dwelling on the past and Glimmer taking in what he had told her.

“She blamed herself for losing you to the Horde,” Glimmer finally said quietly.

Micah’s head dropped to his chest. “Angie…,” he sighed.

His brow furrowed. “It was my fault too. She and the first Princess Alliance organised the attack against the Horde. It was my decision to join it, to fight the Horde. There was nothing she could have done to stop or save me.”

Glimmer looked to the wall then lowered her gaze again. “All my life, I blamed the Horde for everything they took from us, from me: our lands, our people, my parents…”

Her hands clenched into fists. “Hordak and Entrapta created a portal that nearly tore apart reality. Catra activated it. And Mom…,” she squeezed her eyes shut again, “sacrificed herself to shut it down. It’s their fault that she’s gone. Then Hordak and Catra began conquering more of Etheria, including Salineas.”

She paused, drawing in a deep breath and releasing it. “I wanted to defeat the Horde more than anything. But now, none of that matters anymore. Horde Prime is here and he’s a threat to all of us. I saw what he did to Hordak, his control over him…”

She brought her hands to the sides of her head and shook it harshly. “And I realised that Hordak was never in control!” she burst. “None of the Horde clones are! They’re victims! They’re all puppets to Prime! He’s…he’s cruel and he’s sick! And he’s insane! He’s trying to wipe out all free will and remould the universe in his image!”

Her hands slid down to cover her eyes. “This is all my fault! I brought Horde Prime to our world! And now we’re trapped on his mothership! I was stupid to want to use the Heart of Etheria to defeat the Horde! I was stupid to trust Catra! I should have known she would sell us out to Horde Prime! I should have-”

“Glimmer, stop,” Micah suddenly interjected.

Glimmer stopped.

“Blaming yourself isn’t going to help anyone,” he said firmly. “I spent long enough on Beast Island blaming myself for leaving you and your mother behind. Believe me, it does no good. The best thing you can do is learn from your mistakes and focus on moving forward.”

His voice softened. “Listen, Sweetheart, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to find a way out of this. We’ll get through this and get back home and catch-up on all the years we’ve been apart.” Glimmer smiled at her father’s words. His voice warmed. “We’ll sit down, drink cocoa and share stories. I’ll teach you new magic, you’ll become an even better queen, and one day,” Glimmer could hear the smile in his voice, “you may even find someone special like I did your mother, someone who’ll make you so happy.”

A chuckle escaped Glimmer’s lips and she blushed. “Well…now that you mention it…”

“You have someone special?” Micah’s voice rose curiously.

Glimmer rubbed her fingers nervously. “Yes…I mean…no…not really…I’m not sure…I’ve known him since we were young…After we lost you, I met him and we became good friends…We’ve been close for years…I care about him a lot…”

“But you haven’t talked with him about your feelings,” Micah surmised.

Glimmer’s voice was small. “No.”

“Y’know, your mother was the first to admit her feelings to me,” Micah casually informed. “If she hadn’t, we might never have gotten together and had you.”

His tone turned serious. “If you feel strongly about him, you should tell him how you feel. You’ll never know if he feels the same way about you unless you do.”

Glimmer was at a loss for words, blushing suddenly.

“When we get out of here, that’s going to be one of the first things you’re going to do,” Micah insisted. “You’re going find this man and tell him how you feel.”

“But…what if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?” Glimmer said hesitantly.

“Then you’ll be free to find someone more deserving, my little princess.” Micah chuckled. “And I can always put a curse on him.”

Glimmer laughed. “Dad!” she scolded playfully. 

Then she sighed, turning to the wall and laying a hand against it. “I wish I could see you…and hug you.”

Micah turned and laid his hand on the wall as well. “Me too, Sweetheart.”

From opposite sides of the cell wall separating them, father and daughter held their palms over one another.

There was no sign of the strange clone.

Catra had wandered through the white corridors in search of him to no avail. It was like he had just vanished. Something wasn’t right. She swore she had seen him smile at her. Prime’s clones never smiled. And she certainly didn’t know any of them well enough to prompt such expressions. Who had that clone been? Why had he been so willing to help her?

She stopped and looked down at the tracker pad device still in her hand that the clone had given her. She raised its screen to her face and studied it more closely. Sure enough, it displayed a digital map that highlighted the location of the ‘research and development sector’ that he had said Entrapta was in. She debated internally. Could the clone have been lying about Entrapta? Perhaps this was an elaborate trick to catch her in the act of disobeying Horde Prime’s orders? But how had the clone known she was looking for Entrapta to start with? The clones had no knowledge of her former association with the Dryl princess. And she certainly had said nothing.

She didn’t have any other leads on Entrapta’s location though. This was her only one. If she wanted to find the tech princess, she’d have to try it.

The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Her ears pricked up. They were coming from an adjoining corridor. Quickly, she dashed at a set of doors facing her. They opened automatically, allowing her entry. She dived into a dark storage room, pressing herself against the wall next to the open doorway. Turning her head, she peered out into the corridor to see the figure of a recognisable clone with dark blue hair and a long, dark grey cape walking past:

Hordak.

He seemed flustered and unsettled, shoulders tensed, hands fisted tightly at his sides, walking at a rapid pace. He strode past the open doorway without so much as a glance, clearly distracted. His expression was stern, his brow furrowed, his thin lips drawn tight. There were pieces missing from the armour of his right arm. Part of it had evidently been blown off and loose wires dangled over an exposed lower arm. Dull blue skin that was scarred and discoloured by white veins was visible above his wrist.

Reconditioning had apparently not removed his outward scars completely, Catra noted with a grimace.

Why did he appear to be in a bad mood now though? What had happened to him?

Just as he passed the open doorway, Catra saw him come to a stop and his body sag slightly. He hunched forward as he brought his exposed right arm up and looked down at it. With his back turned to her, she couldn’t see his face, but she could see the sinking of his broad shoulders and his long ears lowering defeatedly at the sides of his head as he inspected his defective right arm.

Then a red light blinking from the still intact armour of his left arm snatched his attention. He looked to it and his whole body seemed to stiffen. This passed quickly as he consciously straightened himself and raised his shoulders again. As if he had never stopped, he resumed walking, proceeding to turn off into another adjoining corridor.

Waiting until he had turned into the adjoining corridor, Catra, fleet-footed, slipped out into the corridor after him. Soundlessly, she followed Hordak to the doors of Horde Prime’s main control hall. The doors slid open to allow him entry. Making a quick decision, she slid in quickly after him, concealed by his shadow, and shot into the first hiding spot she saw: behind a tall pillar on the entry platform. Pressing her back against the pillar, she turned her head and peered out from behind it. Her mouth fell open at what she saw.

Horde Prime was seated upon his throne, head leaning forward, four eyes shut as if in slumber. But plugged into the sides of his head, upper chest and lower arms were long, curling tubes filled with a fluorescent, neon green fluid. Green veins sprouted across the Horde emperor’s greyish-blue skin from the tubes’ points of contact. And attached to the other end of the tubes were two of his clones, standing passively at his sides as the neon green fluid streamed from their arms, through the tubes and into their emperor’s body. A cold horror ran through Catra as she realised that the clones were feeding their unnaturally-coloured neon green blood directly into Prime. He was literally sucking the blood out of them!

Prime had been living off the very lifeblood of his clones.

A sickly feeling grew within Catra as she watched Hordak approaching the Horde emperor’s throne. He kneeled before his emperor, head bowed.

“My Emperor,” he addressed reverently.

Horde Prime’s four acid green eyes opened and he gazed down at Hordak.

“Little Brother, you are in a less than presentable state.” His face scrunched subtly as he glanced down at the torn armour of Hordak’s right arm, revealing stark white veins contrasting sharply on dull blue skin underneath.

Instinctively, Hordak drew his exposed arm behind the fold of his cape. His head remained bowed as he answered:

“There was…an accident in the lab. But the princess is uninjured.”

Prime leaned back in his throne, pulling at the fluorescent green tubes feeding into him as he shifted his shoulders and arms into more comfortable positions. The two clones attached to him at his sides moved slightly to accommodate him, remaining mute.

“How goes Princess Entrapta’s work with the Krytian liquid alloy?” Prime asked casually.

Catra’s ears pricked up at the mention of Entrapta.

“It progresses well, my Emperor,” Hordak responded dutifully. “She has made…,” his long ears twitched, “impressive strides in her research. But more testing is required to ensure that the alloy can function successfully to extract the Heart of Etheria’s power.”

Lifting an arm up to his face, Prime laid a metal-tipped finger against his left temple, watching his younger clone brother intently. “So, it is near completion then?”

“We…still need more time to perfect it.” Hordak kept his voice steady, but he was discomforted. The liquid alloy was potentially volatile. It had exploded in the lab after overloading with portal energy. If he had not been there to protect Entrapta…He could not bear to think of it. “There are variables that could cause failures. We must ensure mistakes that could jeopardise the extraction process are avoided.”

“Hmm, your desire to achieve perfection for your emperor is commendable, Little Brother.” Prime’s face remained unmoved. “But time is scarce. What remains of the Etherian rebels will be seeking to recover their lost compatriots that we are holding. And we have yet to encounter this world’s **She-Ra**.”

Catra’s eyes widened from her hiding place.

“She may be closer than we realise,” Prime continued, a crease tarnishing his smooth brow. “And if she wields the power of her predecessors, then we must be prepared for her.”

The Horde emperor paused in consideration, eyes never leaving the bowed, kneeling form of Hordak before him, still holding his scarred right arm out of view behind his cape.

Finally, Prime spoke: “Inform the princess that she has three more days to ready the alloy for extraction.”

Hordak looked up suddenly at his creator, ears snapping up, a tempered shock in his expression.

“Is that a problem, Little Brother?” Prime questioned disapprovingly.

Hordak began to speak a little too quickly: “My Emperor, three days may not be sufficient time for her to-”

Hordak was silenced when the tubes feeding the neon green blood of his fellow clone brothers into Prime disconnected from his body, and the Horde emperor rose from his throne. He approached Hordak slowly and bent down gracefully onto one knee before him. Prime took hold of his smaller brother’s chin in a seemingly gentle grip. Hordak, however, flinched at his big brother’s contact, his pointed ears lowering instinctively in both submission and fear.

“Princess Entrapta has agreed to provide me with the means to access and extract the Heart of Etheria’s power.” Prime’s voice was smooth as velvet. “She has done so on the promise of having the Horde’s technology and resources at her disposal, and on the condition of having **you** work alongside her.”

The sharp tips of his claws prodded into the smooth flesh of Hordak’s face.

Prime’s voice dropped. “I have thus far met her requirements. It is now time for her to deliver on her end of the deal.”

“My Emperor…Princess Entrapta is vital to your plans…,” Hordak attempted to reason. “We cannot risk her safety and wellbeing by rushing her work…”

Prime’s smooth brow creased more noticeably this time, and his four acid green eyes narrowed. Suddenly, his claws dug into Hordak’s cheeks, scratching them as he gripped his face roughly. In one lightning sweep of his powerful arm, he hoisted his little brother up into the air. The emperor’s face had now transformed into a terrifying sneer. He snarled contemptuously:

**“You are forgetting your loyalties, Little Brother! The princess is useful, nothing more! Her safety and wellbeing are of no importance! If necessary, she can be sacrificed!”**

Hordak had squeezed his eyes shut, accepting the pain, accepting the punishment. He had questioned his all-knowing and almighty emperor. He deserved this.

But Prime’s words filled him with an unspeakable terror. ‘Sacrificed’. The princess could be sacrificed. As he hung limply in his emperor’s grip, the image of Entrapta’s eyes, those bright and beautiful magenta eyes, flashed in his mind. A silent despair overtook him and he wilted in his emperor’s grip.

Without warning, Prime released his hold on Hordak’s face, dropping him to the floor in a crumpled heap. Hordak suppressed a groan of pain as he pushed himself up onto his arms and knees. His head hung down between his shoulders. Red claw marks scarred the backs of his cheeks. Prime lowered his face toward his little brother’s hunched form.

“Do not forget the mercy I have bestowed upon you, Little Brother,” the Horde emperor uttered. He ran a metal-tipped claw down the back of Hordak’s neck, passing the port hole embedded there and reaching the edges of more scarred and discoloured skin creeping out from underneath his cloak collar. Hordak trembled involuntarily, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to control his reaction.

Prime gazed down dispassionately at his little brother. “You were flawed, imperfect. Your remaining scars serve as a reminder of that.”

Hordak’s left hand went to cover the shameful scars of his exposed right arm.

“But out of my compassion,” Prime continued, “your…defects have been repaired. You have been reborn and allowed to serve by my side again.”

Prime’s metal-tipped claw hooked under Hordak’s chin, lifting his face up towards his. “Am I not merciful? Am I not…kind?”

“Yes, Brother…Emperor,” Hordak choked out automatically. “You are merciful. You are kind. You are compassionate. You are all-seeing, all-knowing. To serve your goals of peace and order is to spread your righteous light. And to be worthy of your love is to be raised above all sin.” His words were recited like a learnt chant.

Prime released Hordak’s chin. He straightened and smiled. “Yes. For there is no love greater and purer than that of your creator. To be worthy of my love is your sole purpose, Little Brother.” His head tilted subtly to one side. “Tell me, are you worthy?”

“I am worthy, my Emperor,” Hordak replied obediently, ears curved downwards.

“Then you will do as I command,” Prime responded coolly.

“As you command,” Hordak repeated mechanically.

Prime turned and began walking back to his throne, leaving his little brother to pick himself up from the floor.

“Return to the princess and continue assisting her,” he instructed sharply.

He stopped walking. “And Little Brother…”

Hordak, slowly pulling himself upright, looked up at him.

Prime glanced back at him from the corners of his three right-side eyes. “I strongly urge you resist impure thoughts about the princess. They are the path to corruption and ruin.”

Hordak’s eyes widened in horror. Prime had seen. He knew. He knew of his…weakness for her.

The emperor’s acid green eyes narrowed. “Do not forget, such temptations are…sinful.”

In Hordak’s mind, a hazy image of a purple-headed, softly smiling face, haloed by raining sparks, flickered, fragile yet beautiful.

He lowered his head, willing his face to betray no emotion.

“I have no temptations, my Emperor,” he affirmed quietly.

Clutching his exposed right arm, he bowed to his emperor and turned to leave.

From her hiding place, Catra held her breath as she waited for Hordak to approach the doors again. When he did, she slipped through the shadows behind him, soundlessly exiting the control hall right after him.

The image of Hordak being punished made the fur on the back of her neck stand on end and her teeth grit. She wanted to forget him. She wanted to forget how he reminded her too much of herself as a child, when she had been punished by Shadow Weaver in much the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer never had a chance to talk properly with her Dad in the show, so I decided to give them a reunion chat here. Turns out Micah knows about Angella's darker past during the time of the First Rebellion, but how much exactly does he know?
> 
> On Horde Prime's control over others, I've been emphasizing his subtle psychological and emotional control over others in this fic as opposed to his literal mind control, brainwashing and clone conditioning from the show. I wanted to make him someone who was hard to resist and fight not just physically, but mentally as well. Here, his control over Hordak is not just from being able to read his mind, but from being able to manipulate and dominate his emotions too.
> 
> Feeding off the blood of his clones was another little detail I included. In the show, we see him feeding off an unknown green fluid injected directly into his body, presumably 'nutrient-rich amniotic fluid'. But the idea of him sustaining himself from his clones' lifeblood had more of a horror appeal to it and seemed to fit with Prime being a vampiric being that sucked the life out of his clones physically and mentally. 
> 
> Next chapter, we check in with Adora and crew and Hordak and Entrapta again.


	20. What We Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Adora leads her team of would-be rescuers into the heart of the Horde empire, she learns that Bow and Angella are dealing with difficult feelings. Meanwhile, on the Horde mothership, Hordak has been avoiding Entrapta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's heavy on complicated feelings.
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are always appreciated!

Breaking the boundaries of Etheria was a surreal experience.

Clouds gave way to clear blue skies and the skies gave way to star-studded blackness. Mara’s ancient ship had passed through the upper atmosphere of Etheria and broken through into the vastness of Space beyond. From the control room of the ancient ship, its passengers: Adora, Bow, Angella and Swift Wind, had stared in awe at countless stars through the windows.

Adora watched as the surface of their home world grew distant through a side window. Then she looked over her shoulder to the command chair where Bow was seated. He was looking down at a floating pink holographic screen displaying what might have been an old star map. There was a frown on his face. She turned and began to approach him.

“You doing okay there, Bow?” she asked, coming up to his side and putting a hand on the back of the command chair.

Bow didn’t look up from the digital star map as he took a breath and answered: “Considering that we’re no longer on Etheria, flying through zero atmosphere conditions in an ancient ship, and heading straight into the heart of an evil alien empire,” he finally looked at Adora, “not too bad.”

She offered him an encouraging smile, then directed her eyes to the ship’s front windows, taking in the view of scattered stars.

“Outer Space. Pretty amazing sight, right?” she commented wistfully.

Bow followed her gaze, a thoughtful look entering his eyes. “Yeah, so many stars, sparkling...like Glimmer…” He stopped, snapping back to reality. His head dropped glumly, taking his gaze down with it to his hands.

Adora’s brow creased at the mention of Glimmer and her eyes dropped as well. “We’re going to save her, Bow, her and Entrapta and everyone else,” she reassured.

“Yeah. I know we will,” he agreed. “But…”

She looked at him, an eyebrow raising. “But?”

He glanced over at the winged form of Angella, standing away to the side of the control room, staring out a side window at the surface of Etheria glinting with dots of light.

He exhaled quietly. “I’m still finding it hard to believe that Entrapta and Glimmer are both…Queen Angella’s daughters,” he admitted in a hushed voice. “I don’t know how to feel about that, and about Queen Angella now. She kept us all in the dark about Entrapta for so long. That’s…hard to deal with. And Entrapta…”

He paused, uncomfortable with his next words: 

“…We let her down. All of us. She was in a bad state when she was taken, right after Queen Angella told her about her father and her birth and how she left her in Dryl as a child.”

He looked directly at Adora, his face troubled. “And we didn’t tell her what we heard from Light Hope about the half-descendent princess of First Ones’ blood. She knew about that. She overheard us. We…should have told her about that too. We didn’t…trust her enough.”

“We thought it was dangerous to let that information get out,” Adora attempted to reason.

Bow’s eyes fell again. “But she felt like we didn’t trust her.”

He curled his hands together. “We left her behind in the Fright Zone. She was left alone on Beast Island for months. Now we’ve lost her to Horde Prime. And she discovered that she was abandoned by her mother as a child on top of all that. She’s been let down…a lot. And we’re all to blame.”

Adora looked away from him, her expression unsettled. “Bow, we didn’t mean to. And we’re going to get her back now.”

“I know.” Bow sighed heavily. “But even if we rescue her again, will that set everything right? I just don’t know if things will ever be the same again for her.” He brought his hands up to the sides of his head and shook it slowly. “I feel guilty and bad for her, Adora. I…liked her. At least I thought I did.”

Adora looked back at him curiously now, waiting for him to continue.

Bow lowered his hands from his head, eyes remaining on the floor. His brow furrowed. “But now I think maybe…I was just…missing someone else.”

He shut his eyes, eyebrows drawing together in a deep frown. “I‘ve been trying not to think too much about Glimmer since she was abducted,” he said heavily. “We argued the last time all three of us were together. Glimmer had changed so much since becoming queen. I felt like…I didn’t really know her anymore. I was afraid…we were losing her. I was angry at her for how she acted to us, the things she said.” His voice had become frustrated. “She wasn’t the Glimmer I knew anymore. I thought she…she didn’t care about us, about **me** anymore.”

His brow smoothed and his expression softened. He opened his eyes. “Maybe…I was just missing her all along…my best friend since childhood, the one I thought we lost.”

Adora’s eyes drifted away. Thoughts of Catra entered her mind unbidden: growing up together in the Fright Zone, training together to become Horde soldiers, their separation, becoming enemies, fighting one another...

“I…know the feeling…of losing a childhood friend,” she said quietly, holding on to her own arm for comfort.

“I really miss Glimmer,” Bow confessed, eyes down.

Adora returned her gaze to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I miss her too, Bow.”

The two friends shared a silent moment. Finally, Bow glanced over at the still winged form of Queen Angella to the side and looked at Adora again.

“Maybe you better check on Queen Angella too,” he gently suggested. “She might need talking to as well.”

Adora gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded once before leaving his side and making her way over to the queen of Bright Moon.

“Your Majesty? Are you okay?” she asked tentatively as she approached her.

Angella continued to gaze out the window at the twinkling surface of Etheria.

“I am not sure,” she answered quietly after a moment of silence. “You rescued me from the portal and I returned home to discover that my family had been taken by a greater galactic Horde. And after years of silence, I was forced to reveal an aspect of my life that I had hoped to put behind me…to Princess Entrapta, my first daughter.”

The queen’s last words hung heavily in the air. Adora looked at the floor uneasily.

“I’m…sorry, Your Majesty,” Adora offered.

The queen sighed, head lowering. “It is not your fault. It is mine. I was wrong to have left her behind as a child, to have kept her a secret for so long. She was right. I was afraid, of her, of her father, of his legacy in her.”

She shut her eyes tightly.

Entrapta’s words came back:

_“You were afraid…of him.”_

_“You didn’t trust him, did you?”_

She saw the vibrant red of Keldor’s eyes in Entrapta’s, his obsession, his mania…

His runestone radiating red from her forehead…

Angella’s eyes snapped open again to see her own fearful face reflected in the window. It took a moment for her features to settle into a calm expression again.

“I see now that I have caused her greater harm than good,” she said shakily. “I am…regretful.”

She brought her arms around herself. “I will do everything in my power to rescue my family, all of them.” Her voice quietened. “I think…there is much I must resolve with them.”

“King Micah…did he know about Entrapta?” Adora asked cautiously.

There was a heavy pause.

“I made mistakes during the time of the First Rebellion,” Angella said wearily. “I did not hide these from Micah when we married. He knew about my first relationship with…Keldor, Entrapta’s father. I was honest about most of my past with Micah. I trusted him. I loved him.”

The queen inhaled and exhaled. “But…I did not inform him about Entrapta. She was in Dryl, no longer a part of my life. And I did not wish to burden him with the knowledge of a child that was not his own. I did not wish to burden myself…”

Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I do not expect you or others to condone my past actions.” Her voice was hollow. “The truth is: my life has been long and full of mistakes and pain, Adora. Such is the price of immortality it would seem.” She turned finally to look at Adora with a heavy expression. “I can only hope to correct my mistakes in future.”

Adora looked at her, unsure of what to say. Then Bow’s voice interrupted the silence.

“We’re approaching the Horde fleet!” he announced suddenly from the command chair.

Pushing aside their troubling talk, Adora and Angella quickly went to join him. Swift Wind was standing nearby. Together, the group of four looked out through the front windows of Mara’s ancient ship. Their expressions became grim as they took in the impossible sight of a sea of Horde battleships surrounding a gigantic, spear-shaped mothership.

“Are we really going to fly into that?” Swift Wind asked nervously.

“It’s the only way through to the mothership,” Adora replied firmly.

Bow tapped at some symbols on the pink holographic screen beneath him. From the outside, an observer would have seen the ancient ship suddenly disappear as its hull projected a photographic copy of the surrounding area, allowing the ship to blend seamlessly with the blackness of Space.

“I’ve activated the ship’s cloaking capabilities,” Bow informed. “Let’s hope it works long enough to conceal us from the Horde’s view.”

He tapped another button on the holographic screen and laid his hands upon the armrests of the command chair. Two pink holographic gauntlets materialised around his hands.

“I’m switching to manual control of the ship,” he further informed. “I’ll have to steer us through the Horde ships.”

He looked back up to see the Horde ships rapidly growing in size to fill their window view. He gulped then steeled himself as best he could.

“We’re approaching their first line of ships,” he announced. “Get ready, everyone.”

The four Etherians held their breaths as they approached the first of the Horde ships.

There would be no turning back now.

Entrapta, perched on a seat of her long lilac and cerise hair, had been looking at the same set of figures on the computer screen in front of her for several minutes. By her fifth attempt to study the data, she knew something was wrong with her. She was distracted. She looked over her shoulder to the source of her distraction: Hordak. His back was turned to her as he worked at a table opposite.

He had been unusually quiet in the last couple of days, ever since their lab accident involving the explosion of the Krytian liquid alloy. Hordak had returned to the lab only to report that Horde Prime had given them a deadline of three days to be ready for extraction of the Heart of Etheria’s power. After that, he had just busied himself with lab work, keeping his head down, working silently. He had hardly spoken to her, barely even looked at her. She felt certain that he was actively avoiding her. It was bothering her.

Her thoughts drifted to their last experiment with the portal, to Hordak grabbing her arm as light exploded around them, his body covering hers on the floor again, shielding her, like before in his Sanctum. He had done it again, protected her, even without remembering her.

She recalled his exposed right arm, the flesh mostly regenerated, the gap between his forearm bones no longer present, but the white vein-like scars of his former physical defect, his unique imperfections, had remained. He was still recognisable underneath his new uniform and armour. He was still Hordak. The one she knew.

She felt both a dull ache and a warmth fill her heart. Hordak was still there, even if he did not know it.

A sudden snarl of frustration pulled her back to the present. She saw Hordak throw a tool away angrily, sending it clattering to the floor some distance away. He then let out a startling roar and threw out his long arm across his work table, sweeping it clear of contents. Tools and equipment were sent crashing to the floor.

“Useless!” he growled, gripping the table for support as his chest and shoulders heaved with exertion.

Entrapta lowered herself to her feet and approached him cautiously, reaching for him with her long lilac and cerise hair. “Hordak?”

She tugged at his shoulder with her hair. “It’s okay. No need to get in a tizzy,” she said placatingly. “Sure, we’ve not been able to run all the tests we’d like, but we’ll be ready in time. We’ve already calculated the volume of the liquid alloy that we’ll need for the extraction process. And construction of the portal stabilizer is nearly complete.”

Hordak remained leaning over the table. He said nothing. He did not even turn to look at her.

Entrapta moved closer to him. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine,” she offered reassuringly.

She slid her hair strands into his hand and between his fingers. He tensed. His fingers twitched and curled a fraction.

Then he quickly pulled his hand out of her hair and started to walk away from her.

“This is a waste of time,” he growled. “We need to get back to work.”

“Are you…angry at me?”

The uncertain question from Entrapta halted him in his tracks and he whirled round faster than he had meant to.

“No, of course not, I-” he began to sputter.

“Your recent lack of engagement and unwillingness to look at me directly suggest you’ve been avoiding me,” she stated factually. “Did I…do something to upset you?”

Her magenta eyes were so earnest and pleading in their search for answers that Hordak struggled not to be affected.

“Entrapta…,” he uttered hoarsely, turning his green eyes away from her.

“If I did something wrong…” She trailed off, looking more carefully at Hordak’s face.

Lifting herself on her long pigtails, she brought herself to his face level. Before Hordak could move away, a lilac strand of her hair touched his cheek. He froze. Her lilac strand gently moved his face to the side, exposing the entirety of his cheek. Her expression fell.

Along the back of his cheek, where white skin met dull blue, still healing claw marks were visible. She brushed the long scars tenderly with her lilac strand.

“Hordak…what happened?” she whined quietly, suppressing the pain from her voice. “What are these-”

“They are nothing,” he said abruptly, pushing her strand of hair away. He turned his body away from her.

She watched him helplessly for a moment, then softly asked: “What did he do to you?”

“It is not your concern,” he replied gruffly.

He lowered his head and seemed to stare blankly at the floor, saying nothing more.

There was a long pause before Entrapta quietly said: “He hurt you, didn’t he?”

Hordak shut his eyes. The voice of Horde Prime echoed in his mind:

_“You are forgetting your loyalties, Little Brother!”_

_“She can be sacrificed!”_

_“You were flawed, imperfect.”_

_“Such temptations are…sinful.”_

Hordak’s mouth barely opened as he uttered: “I…deserve to be punished.”

Suddenly, Entrapta was in front of him, grabbing his arms with her gloved hands, a furious look in her magenta eyes.

“NO, YOU DON’T!” she almost screamed.

Hordak’s green eyes widened and his long ears lowered instinctively. He stared down at her in surprise, taken aback by her sudden ferocity.

“No-one deserves to be punished like this!” she wailed, eyes locked onto his. “It’s not right!”

Snapping himself from his stunned state, Hordak pulled away from her, attempting to regain his composure.

“I do not require your concern, Princess,” he stated stubbornly, turning his face away from her.

Her gloved hands balled into fists and her eyes squeezed shut as she shouted: “WELL, I **AM** CONCERNED!” Her lilac and cerise hair puffed up and frizzed.

“THEN YOU ARE A **FOOL**!” Hordak snarled back with equal force, snapping back to face her again. “No intelligent being would care about a…” He paused and shut his eyes tightly. The rest of his words came out bitterly: “… **worthless** and **defective** clone of Horde Prime.”

Entrapta’s hands were still balled. Her expression was still furious. But her eyes were becoming wet.

“Well, I **do** care!” she asserted defiantly. “And I guess you haven’t noticed, but I’m a **failure** too!”

Hordak’s eyes snapped open again and he stared at her in shock. He began to protest quickly: “You are **not** a fai-”

“I don’t fit in with other people!” she interrupted determinedly. “I don’t act like them! I don’t talk like them! I don’t think like them! I’m **different**! Like you!”

He stared at her speechless.

“I know exactly what it’s like to be ‘weird’, to be an ‘alien’ amongst your own people!” she continued frustratedly. “I’ve never been good with people! The only thing I’m good with is tech!”

Her hair rose and curled restlessly behind her. Desperation seeped into her voice. “Do you know how hard it is for me to connect with others? I spent most of my life isolated in a castle! And I’ve been abandoned and betrayed by so-called ‘family’ and ‘friends’ too many times!”

A tear broke from the edge of her eye, rolling down her cheek. Her eyes held on to Hordak’s stunned ones. “It wasn’t until I met you that I finally found someone that **understood** me and **respected** me!”

She rubbed at her tear-stained cheek with the heel of her palm. “So I’m sorry if you think I’m a fool for caring about the first and only real friend I ever had because that’s what you were to me!”

Her long hair swung from her sides to form curtains that covered her from view.

Hordak had been paralysed as she spoke with a strength of passion and feeling that was alien to him. His breath had been sucked out of his lungs and his chest had tightened.

She…cared about him. She had called him…her true ‘friend’.

His heart was suddenly an unbearable weight, sinking in his chest, dragging him down with it.

Slowly, he reached for her, tentatively placing a hand on her raised hair. There was little resistance from her as he pushed aside her strands, revealing her face turned away from him. He almost reached out to touch her. He wanted to take hold of her chin and bring the light of her magenta eyes back to his. Instead, he chose to close his hand around a lock of her hair, holding it gently but firmly in his clawed fingers.

Hesitantly, she turned her face to him again. The look in her eyes was so fragile, so vulnerable, so heart-stopping. He was struck by the forbidden desire to hold her close.

His eyes and ears lowered to the floor. A heavy, resigned expression settled on his features.

“Entrapta, we…we were not made to have relationships with others,” he said quietly. “We were made in Horde Prime’s image to serve him. I…I have no worth other than my usefulness to him. I have been a failure. I am defective. I should not even have a name. You should not be concerned with me. I…am not worthy of your care.”

He tried not to look at her, keeping his eyes down. But a strand of her long hair curled under his chin and raised his face to hers again. The tiny smile that had formed on her lips held his gaze. Her glistening eyes were tender. It was impossible to resist her.

“You don’t have to be ‘worthy’ for me,” she said softly. “You’re **perfect** just as you are, imperfections and all.”

Perfect for his imperfections. Her words, blasphemous and beautiful, filled him, possessing his heart completely.

Her face drew nearer to his. Her captivating magenta eyes held his. He was powerless, trapped in her gravity. Her fingers, feather-light, came to rest between his collarbones, filling the empty space there. His heart surged toward her touch.

“What…what are doing…to me?” His voice was breathless.

She simply smiled her tiny smile again.

“You might not remember us up there…,” she murmured. A strand of her hair rose to the top of his head, stroking his dark blue strands and trailing down the side of his face. “…but I think you do in here.” Her hair strand slid down his neck and onto his chest, stopping over his heart.

His words were broken whispers: “I…we should not…I cannot…”

The gap between their faces grew smaller. Their noses were almost touching. They could hear and feel the warmth of one another’s shallow breaths on their skin.

His eyes wandered down from her glistening magenta eyes to her moist lips, lips that were pink, plump and inviting. She was so still beneath his face, expectant, waiting for him…

He was barely aware of his own mouth descending towards hers…

Then the doors of the lab opened and the sound of soft footsteps entered.

Snapping back to their senses, they turned their heads to the shadowed outline of a feline figure approaching from the doorway.

Catra froze as soon as she saw them, eyes and mouth falling open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta and Hordak just needed a lovers' quarrel to find out how they both really feel.
> 
> Bow and Angella's feelings needed exploring too. I've been developing them very differently from the show in this fic with Bow having feelings for Entrapta earlier on and Angella being revealed to be Entrapta's biological mother. In an interesting reversal of roles, Adora played the supportive listener to Bow in this chapter. Though I don't think she's as good at it as he is. She tries though.
> 
> Next chapter, Catra has a difficult conversation.


	21. Old Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra is forced to confront past wrongs when she comes face to face with Entrapta and Adora infiltrates the Horde mothership.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Catra's turn to deal with unresolved issues this chapter, but can they be resolved? And things don't quite go according to plan for Adora and her would-be rescuers.

Catra’s eyes were the size of saucers and her mouth hung open.

She had followed the map device from the mysterious clone to the lab and entered to find Hordak leaning over Entrapta, holding a strand of her lilac and cerise hair in one hand. She noted their _intimate_ proximity, their faces inches apart. They were looking back at her with frozen expressions, their eyes just as wide as hers.

Then Hordak pulled away from Entrapta, dropping her hair, ears lowered and twitching irritably. Flustered, he glared at Catra discontentedly. Entrapta looked away to the floor, a red tinge to her cheeks, pigtails curling nervously at her sides. Catra focused on her.

“Entrapta…,” the feline woman began hesitantly.

Hordak advanced toward her. “General Catra, you are in direct breach of Horde Prime’s orders.” His tone was displeased. “You were told to stay away from the princess.”

Catra, looking at him now, stepped back warily.

Hordak bared his teeth as he began to growl: “Get ou-”

“Oh, there you are, Catra!” Entrapta suddenly exclaimed.

Hordak’s gaze shifted to the small princess, an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, my fault,” she hurriedly explained. “I called her for...” She paused, then her magenta eyes brightened. “a girls’ chat! A **very** important girls’ chat!” She grinned suddenly.

“You…wish to converse with her?” Hordak asked dubiously.

“Yeah! We’re just going to pop out for a sec!” Entrapta hurried over to a surprised Catra and took hold of her shoulders with her pigtails, turning the feline woman toward the lab doors and guiding her out.

Hordak made to follow them.

“Er, you can stay here, Hordak,” Entrapta said quickly. “I’ll be fine on my own, really.”

He cast a distrustful glance at Catra. “Princess,” he addressed formally, conscientious of their company, “I would not advise-”

“Don’t worry!” Entrapta interrupted with another wide grin. “I’ll be back in a jiffy! Just keep the equipment warm, okay?”

She almost shoved Catra out through the lab doors in her haste to remove her. Hordak watched perplexed as they hurriedly exited, but he remained put.

When they had stepped out into a wide white corridor and the lab doors shut behind them, Catra turned to face Entrapta awkwardly.

“Thanks for that,” she offered quietly, blue and yellow eyes focused on the floor. “I…wanted to talk to you.”

Entrapta said nothing, only looked at her expectantly.

Catra brought a hand up to her arm and held it. Her ears flattened as her gaze rose timidly to the princess. “Entrapta, I’m…glad you’re okay.”

The tech princess frowned, her eyebrows drawing closer together as if trying to figure out a difficult problem.

Catra struggled to keep her voice steady: “I…I know you might not want to hear this from me but…” Her eyes and ears lowered again. Her voice shrank. “I’m sorry. I made a bad choice. I never should have…” Her eyes darted away. “…done what I did to you…”

There was a tense pause.

Then Entrapta’s head tilted to the side. “To what are you referring exactly?” she asked calmly. “Convincing me that I had been abandoned by the other princesses? Using my weapons and bots against them and Etheria and to further your advancement in the Horde? Electrocuting me in the back? Stealing my work on the portal machine? Sending me to Beast Island? Or lying to Hordak about me?”

Catra flinched visibly at each of the accusations. Her ears lowered all the way down to her head. Her eyes fell to the floor in shame.

Entrapta’s expression brightened suddenly. “Oh, don’t worry. Beast Island wasn’t so bad. It turned out to be fascinating in fact.” She looked away in thought, a small smile appearing on her lips. “There was so much First Ones’ tech there, so much data, so much I learnt...”

She looked at Catra again abruptly, smile widening. “I should thank you really! If it wasn’t for you, I would never have discovered the Heart of Etheria and this!” She pointed to the cerise oval runestone embedded on her forehead with a strand of hair. “It’s going to allow me to open up a portal into the Heart of Etheria and extract its energies for Horde Prime!”

Catra’s eyes snapped open and she rushed at Entrapta, grabbing her by the upper arms. “You can’t go through with this!”

Entrapta squirmed, looking down uncomfortably at Catra’s hands on her arms.

“Look, I’ll get you out of here!” Catra said determinedly. “We just have to-”

Entrapta’s long hair wound around Catra’s arms and pushed her away with sudden force. Catra staggered back in surprise.

“ **I’m not leaving!** ” the tech princess firmly declared.

Catra looked at her in disbelief. “Entrapta, don’t be an idiot! No amount of science or tech is worth-”

She stopped.

She remembered, back in the Fright Zone, all the times Entrapta had been away, working with Hordak on the portal; Hordak listening intently to Entrapta as she sat close to him on the armrest of his throne; Hordak’s words as Entrapta stood smiling up at him whilst he had been banishing her to the Crimson Waste: “Entrapta has interceded on your behalf. You should be thanking her.”; Entrapta’s last words before she had knocked her out with the stun baton: “I need to tell Hordak! He’ll understand!”

How Hordak had been leaning intimately over Entrapta and holding her hair moments ago…

Her eyes widened in realisation.

They were…

She was an idiot. How had she not seen it before?

“Hordak…you’re staying for him…aren’t you?” she uttered.

Entrapta looked away from Catra, saying nothing. She began fiddling with her long hair.

Catra approached her slowly. “Listen,” she said cautiously, “Hordak, the one we knew, is gone. Horde Prime wiped his memories. He doesn’t remember you or me or anyone anymore.”

Entrapta said nothing, did not look at her.

“There’s nothing left of him. He’s just another clone serving Prime now. You can’t save him.”

Entrapta squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back oncoming tears.

“I…I DON’T CARE!” she burst. “I’ll tear open the Heart of Etheria if I have to! But I’m **not** leaving him! You **won’t** take me away from him again!” She stepped back, wide-eyed, breathing heavily. Her hair had risen defensively around her, strands poised to strike like snakes.

Catra tensed, fur on end, ears now erect. She eyed the wild-haired princess warily. “Listen to me!” she hissed. “Horde Prime is **using** you!”

“Like how **you** used me?” Entrapta shot back with uncharacteristic force. “Against the princesses? Against Hordak?”

Catra froze, mouth opening. Then she looked away, gritting her teeth. 

“Entrapta, I…I know I was wrong,” Catra bit out. “I know I…treated you badly.”

Entrapta’s hair lowered and her expression calmed. She looked at the feline woman uncomprehendingly.

“Why?” Entrapta asked, confusion in her tone and expression. “Why did you send me away? I don’t understand. I thought we were friends. You brought me into the Horde and I made useful tech for you in return. Isn’t that how friendships are supposed to work? People doing things for one another? What did I do wrong? What did I do to make you angry with me?”

Catra couldn’t look at her. “It…it wasn’t you. It…wasn’t personal…,” she stuttered.

Entrapta’s brow creased. “But it was personal to me,” she said quietly. “Your response is illogical and unsatisfactory.”

“Entrapta, I...I was just…messed up, okay?” Catra blurted in frustration.

Frowning deeply, Entrapta’s gaze moved away from Catra.

“People are so confusing,” the princess said despondently. “They do illogical things, act in ways that don’t make sense, hurt others for no good reason.”

She turned her body away from Catra. Her hair seemed to sink, curling slowly around her.

“I’m not like that,” she said dismally. “I need to make sense of everything. I try to understand how things work, how people work. But friendship…confuses me. It doesn’t make sense. I thought that if I could be helpful and useful to people, they’d like me. But that hasn’t really worked out. People use me then leave me. I’m just no good at friendship. I’m not made for it.”

The long-haired princess’ face remained out of Catra’s view as she stared numbly at her, rendered speechless by her resigned words.

“You’re right.” Entrapta’s voice was unusually calm. “Horde Prime is using me. Of course, he is. Everyone does. It makes sense for him to. I can help him get what he wants: the Heart of Etheria’s power. I understand that. He told me so himself. He was honest about it.”

The princess finally looked over her shoulder at Catra. “What I don’t understand though...is you, Catra.”

She turned slowly to face Catra again, her expression empty. But her magenta eyes pierced into Catra’s soul.

“Your past behaviour indicates that you are unstable, unpredictable and untrustworthy,” she stated emotionlessly.

A dull horror rose within Catra as she found herself staring into the face of her nightmares, the face of her guilt: Entrapta’s emotionless visage silently watching her. For a moment, the feline woman was paralysed with fear, pupils shrunk to dots in her eyes. She forced her eyes shut and tried to push her fear back down. She would not submit to it now.

“Entrapta, you have no good reason to trust me, I know!” she pleaded desperately. “But I’m trying to save you! Horde Prime doesn’t care what happens to you! He’s willing to sacrifice you as soon as you’ve given him what he wants!”

Entrapta looked at her for a long time, saying nothing.

“I don’t require saving,” she stated finally. “I have already calculated the probability of my survival from the extraction process. I’m aware of the risks. And I have concluded that I am willing to sacrifice myself for the greatest scientific experiment ever conducted on Etheria if necessary.”

Catra stared at her, stunned. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.

Entrapta’s gaze fell. “Everyone one leaves me behind. I’ve never had any real friends, save for one,” she stated impassively. “But, as you said, he’s gone now. He doesn’t remember me anymore. So, maybe, it would be better to let go of him.” A joyless smile appeared on her lips. “If I don’t survive, it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things. I won’t be missed too much. And if I go out for science, I’ll be satisfied.”

She turned back to the lab doors. “Thanks for coming to find me, Catra. But you better leave now.”

“Entrapta-” Catra started, moving to get in front of her.

Entrapta stopped her with a pigtail, easily pushing her aside and walking past her. The lab doors slid open and the princess paused at the open doorway, lifting a hand to lean against the frame. Her hair and body seemed to sag.

“Maybe I could have forgiven you for everything you did to me,” she said softly, not turning round to look at Catra. “But what you did to Hordak, how you hurt him, lied to him for so long about me, made him trust you, used him…That’s harder to forget.”

Her head descended and she shut her eyes. “We both trusted you, Catra…If you hadn’t separated us…and activated the portal…brought Horde Prime here…maybe…we all could have…been happy.”

Entrapta moved forward, retreating into the lab.

Catra reached for her desperately. “Entrapta, wait! WAIT!”

The doors slid shut after the princess, blocking Catra from pursuing her. The feline woman slammed a fist on the doors in desperation. Then she let out a growl of frustration and leaned her head against them. Her hands clawed futilely into the metal, leaving scratch marks.

It had not gone as she had wanted. She had expected anger from the tech princess for her betrayal. Anger she was familiar with. But it was worse. Entrapta had resigned herself to desolation. She was more deeply wounded than Catra had imagined. She was helping Horde Prime willingly. She would not leave Hordak. And she refused to be saved.

Catra covered her eyes with a hand and let out a heavy, shaky breath. She cursed herself quietly.

Why had she not seen it before? That Hordak and Entrapta had been…close.

She had torn them apart, made Hordak believe Entrapta had left him, just as she had been left…by Adora.

What had she done? What had she done?

Her troubled thoughts were interrupted by a sound from above and Catra looked up. The sound of movement through metal walls echoed subtly from the high ceiling, but she saw nothing along its white length. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Something or someone was moving through the ceiling, something small judging by the lightness of the sounds. Had she been seen?

Before Catra could ponder further, an alert beeped from the metal bracelet on her wrist. It drew her attention as the voice of a Horde clone emanated from it:

“Flagship breach. Unknown craft has infiltrated east sector docking bay. Reinforcement required.”

Catra’s eyes shot open.

With cat-like reflexes, she took off down the corridor on all fours, heart hammering in her chest.

She knew. She just knew who was on that unknown craft.

Through a tiny hole in the ceiling above, a pair of small yellow eyes peered down, watching the feline woman rapidly departing.

Navigating through the sea of Horde battleships had been a test of their nerves. Adora, Bow, Angella and Swift Wind had remained tense as Bow manoeuvred their ancient First Ones’ ship steadily through the numerous Horde vessels. If anything had gone wrong, such as their ship’s cloaking capabilities failing, or accidentally hitting one of the Horde ships, their presence would have been revealed to the enemy army. Miraculously though, they had managed to sneak through the Horde fleet undetected.

Then upon reaching their target of the Horde mothership, they had hit another obstacle: a forcefield shielding the entire mothership. They had no way to penetrate it…until Bow had observed an entry point where Horde ships docked. The forcefield was lowered temporarily at this point to allow ships to enter the mothership. So, Bow had flown their cloaked ship behind an unsuspecting returning Horde jet. Trailing behind the jet, they successfully infiltrated the mothership.

Everything had worked out well until the point they had entered a docking bay and Bow had accidentally bumped their ship into the back of the Horde jet they had followed in. It had been a careless and costly mistake. Despite their ancient ship being rendered invisible, Horde clones had been alerted by the sound of its nose crunching into the tail of the Horde jet. They had moved in to investigate. There was little point in keeping up their ship’s cloaking.

As soon as the cloaking shield was dropped, Adora, transforming into She-Ra, had exploded in a flash of light from their ship. She had charged down the boarding ramp and knocked down a line of Horde clones with a wave of rainbow-colored energy unleashed from her re-forged Sword of Protection.

Bow, Angella and Swift Wind had followed right after her. Bow let loose with arrows whilst Swift Wind and Angella had taken to the air.

Valiantly, the four Etherian rebels had managed to fight their way out of the docking bay and into corridors when armed clones with laser cannons arrived.

They were now vastly outnumbered. Angella, without her magical abilities on the mothership, was first to be knocked out of the air by a green energy blast. She descended with a cry, skidding across the floor in a crumpled heap. Swift Wind circled back for her and too was struck in the wing by an energy blast, grounding him abruptly.

She-Ra and Bow were surrounded. The Horde clones closed in, pushing the two back to back with raised canons. She-Ra brought her sword up, preparing to unleash another wave of energy, when an all too familiar female voice cut through the air:

“ **Hold your fire!** ”

She-Ra and Bow turned to see a path opening up in the lines of armed clones. A tailed figure emerged through the path. She-Ra’s eyes widened.

Catra came before them, gaze intense.

“Horde Prime will want them alive,” she announced.

She gazed at She-Ra with unmoving eyes as she approached her, coming face to face. Blue and yellow eyes locked with ice blue ones.

“Hey, Adora,” Catra said softly. “Miss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've envisioned quite a different response from Entrapta to Catra's apology here. One of the things I wasn't completely satisified with in season 5 was how easily Entrapta forgave Catra. I know Entrapta is supposed to be a cheerful character who doesn't hate anyone, but I couldn't help but feel that her forgiveness was rushed and happened because it was needed to fastrack Catra's redemption. Entrapta may not have held a grudge, but I think she ought to have been more hurt by Catra's betrayal rather than simply almost forgetting what Catra did to her. The fact that she could have easily forgotten why Catra would be afraid of her just struck me as treating her deeper feelings in a less than adult manner.
> 
> Seeing Entrapta as an autistic character, I also felt it wasn't an accurate portrayal of how most autistic people would react to being wronged. If anything, because of the intensity with which autistic people experience emotions and feelings, I would have thought it'd be more believable for Entrapta to have some kind of strong reaction to Catra's betrayal rather than a neutral, friendly head pat. Extreme confusion and bitter disappointment would make more sense since Entrapta would struggle to understand the motive behind Catra's actions toward her and for the loss of yet another set of friendships that she had been invested in. I suppose one might say that enough time had passed for these negative feelings to have dulled, but still, it would have been good to have seen some signs of the psychological impact Entrapta may have suffered. I also couldn't help but notice that Hordak's treatment at Catra's hands throughout season 4 and his feelings from her betrayal of his trust were largely omitted in the final season too. That struck me as a significant oversight. Catra betrayed **both** Entrapta and Hordak personally. 
> 
> Anyway, those are just my feelings on a couple of things that I felt could have been done better in the show. Still enjoyed what we got.
> 
> Next chapter, Adora finds herself in a bad position on the Horde mothership.


	22. The Point of No Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captive on the Horde mothership, Adora is forced to confront hard truths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: another emotional discussion ahead. Forgive me. I am compelled to write these. Remember to be good to yourselves, people!
> 
> A big thank you to all you loyal readers who have taken the time to read this entire fic and follow its updates. Everytime I receive kudos and read your comments, it makes the time I put into writing this worthwhile!

Micah was sitting hunched on his bed when the green forcefield barrier of his cell cleared to become a window. He looked up and saw two expressionless clones standing before the barrier, looking in at him. One of them was holding a set of mechanical cuffs, the other carried a stun gun weapon.

“On your feet. Turn your back to us and keep your hands behind you where we can see them,” the clone with the stun gun instructed calmly.

Micah stood up from the bed. “What’s going on?”

“Turn around and present your hands behind yourself,” the clone with the gun repeated.

Micah glared at the clones but did as he was told, turning his back to them and bringing his hands behind himself.

The stun gun-carrying clone lifted a palm to the barrier and dragged it down along its surface. The barrier dissipated and the two clones proceeded to enter the cell. The clone with the stun gun kept the weapon pointed at the back of Micah as the clone with the cuffs came forward and fastened them around the king’s wrists. They snapped shut and emitted a beep.

Micah glanced over his shoulder at the clones with a frown as he found himself shackled once more. “What’s happening? I demand to know.”

“Horde Prime has requested an audience with you and your fellow rebels,” the clone that had shackled him answered amiably. “You are to be granted the honour of witnessing the glorious harvesting of your world’s power.”

Micah’s eyes widened. “What? You mean he’s found a way to get to the Heart of Etheria?”

“All will become clear when you are brought before Prime,” the clone that had shackled him replied simply.

Micah was brought out of his cell into the corridor, where he observed the princesses and others also being led out of their cells. Castaspella and Shadow Weaver also had their hands bound behind them. Briefly, his eyes connected with Shadow Weaver’s grim ones as she was led past him by another two clone guards toward the doors of the prison block. The princesses and Castaspella were subsequently led out, one after another, each accompanied by clones.

Glimmer looked at her father as she walked past him too. There was fear and uncertainty in her sparkling eyes. Micah tried to reassure her.

" _It’ll be okay, Baby Girl_ ,” he mouthed silently at her.

The clone that had shackled Micah came beside him and took hold of his cuffed wrists. He looked at Micah with unreadable green eyes. The king then felt something being slipped into his hands: a flat, rectangular object, some kind of card. He looked up at the clone in confusion.

“Come quietly,” the clone instructed unremarkably. He began to lead the king out of his cell by an arm. “All will become clear.”

Micah’s eyebrows lifted when he glimpsed the corner of the clone’s lips curve upwards in a slanted smile.

Was he…smiling?

But the clones never smiled.

It vanished as quickly as it came though and the clone’s expressionless face returned. The clone said nothing further as he guided Micah out of the prison block along with the others.

Behind his back, Micah’s fingers wrapped around the card.

Adora thought of Shadow Weaver when she had been held captive in Bright Moon. The dark sorceress had been kept within a magical forcefield prison in a guestroom in the castle. Adora felt very much like her former caregiver at present. She was knelt on a white floor, arms shackled behind her by a pair of mechanical cuffs. Surrounding her was a tall, circular green forcefield. Beyond the forcefield, all she could see was darkness.

A doorway opened ahead of her and she looked up to see someone entering. The darkness shrouded the visitor as they approached her. Adora waited nervously until they came into view. When the visitor stepped into the light before her, her eyes hardened.

Catra stood looking down through the forcefield at her, expression as hard as Adora’s.

A long moment of tense silence hung between the two young women as they glared at each other.

“Long time no see, Adora,” Catra said flatly at last. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d abandoned your princess friends. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Adora’s brow furrowed.

Catra sighed audibly. “But you’re here now. Better late than never, I guess. Horde Prime’s been expecting you. Seems She-Ra has a reputation in the wider universe.” She tossed a hand out at her side. “That’s why you get a special containment room all to yourself. Lucky you.” Her arms crossed. “You must be flattered. You always liked being the hero, didn’t you, Adora?” Her toneless voice was mismatched with the sarcasm of her words. There was no weight to her taunts. Her heterochromatic eyes seemed tired.

Adora rose to her feet slowly, looking searchingly at Catra. “Catra, where are my friends?” she asked slowly.

Catra smiled joylessly. “Which ones? The ones you grew up with? Or the ones you left them for?”

Adora looked away from her, saying nothing. Catra’s tail swished restlessly.

“You know, for all your heroism and righteousness, you have a nasty tendency to leave behind your friends,” Catra remarked coldly. “I mean you left us in the Horde, you left Entrapta with us, you even left Glimmer behind and she was in the Fright Zone alone right before we were captured.”

Adora shut her eyes. Her head lowered.

Catra’s voice became quieter, softer: “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were afraid of long-term commitment.”

Adora’s eyes opened again. She looked at Catra with a strange and uncertain expression. Their eyes met again.

Then Catra turned away, crossing her arms. “Don’t worry. Your princess friends are still alive,” she said without looking at Adora. “Can’t really say for everyone we knew back in the Fright Zone though, seeing as Hordak pretty much blew it all up.” Her ears twitched. “I had a…fall out with him.” Her shoulders lowered. Her voice descended. “Looks like we both ended up leaving behind a lot of old friends.”

A silence hung between them. Catra kept her back to Adora.

Adora broke the silence. Her words were tentative: “Catra, we’ve made mistakes, both of us. But I need your help now. Please…”

Catra turned back to Adora, letting out a humourless chuckle. “Mistakes? That’s an understatement. You left us in the Horde to become She-Ra and join the princesses. We re-started the war on Etheria. I activated the portal and nearly destroyed all of reality. I tried to take over the rest of Etheria with Hordak. You and the princesses nearly destroyed our world and others with the Heart of Etheria. And now, we’ve brought Horde Prime here.” She leaned toward the forcefield barrier between them, gazing at Adora. “I think we’ve done a little more than make ‘mistakes’, don’t you, Adora?”

Adora lowered her eyes to the floor. “I don’t deny it,” she admitted. “I believed that I had a destiny to fulfil as She-Ra and I nearly became a weapon for the Heart of Etheria because of it.” Her face hardened. “I was wrong to let others tell me what I was.”

She brought her eyes up to Catra again. “But I’m still She-Ra and I still have to save Etheria,” she said firmly. “It’s not too late. Horde Prime’s a bigger threat than anything we’ve ever known. But we can stop him. We can still save everyone we care about. I have to-”

“There you go again,” Catra interrupted irritably. “Always having to be the hero. Always having to put others before yourself.” She glared in frustration at Adora. “Don’t you ever get tired of sacrificing yourself? Of always having to do what others need you to do? When do you ever really think about yourself?”

For a moment, a pained look entered Adora’s face as she stared at Catra. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

Catra looked away. “I think about myself all the time,” she said softly, “how to survive, how to channel my anger, how to use others to my advantage.” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “I’m no hero. I don’t really care about others. I don’t really care about saving Etheria or anyone.”

Her gaze rose to Adora’s. Her eyes were empty. “I’ve done a lot of bad things,” she said quietly. “People hate me now. There’s no-one left who cares about me. I have no more friends.”

Adora began to shake her head. “That’s not true. I don’t hate you.”

Catra looked at her silently for a long moment, a sadness flickering in her eyes. “But you wouldn’t stay with me either…” Her voice was barely audible. “…even though you promised.”

Adora’s eyes widened as childhood memories returned to her:

_“Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.”_

_“You promise?”_

_“I promise.”_

Adora’s eyes became wet. Her voice quivered: “Catra, I…” She trailed off.

Catra’s gaze fell. “Maybe it had to happen,” she said emotionlessly. “You had to go. Afterall, we were never the same, Adora. You were always Shadow Weaver’s favourite. I was just the one who always got punished.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “Maybe this is what we were always meant to be: you the hero, the favourite of all, and me the villain, deserving of punishment.”

“Catra-” Adora tried to speak.

Catra cut her off sharply: “It’s like you said, Adora, we made our choices. Now we have to live with them. You wanted to be a hero. I made myself a villain.”

“I didn’t **want** to be a hero,” Adora protested desperately. “I…” She hesitated. “ **had** to be.”

Catra looked at Adora suddenly, eyes narrowing. “No,” she said firmly. “You didn’t have to be anything you didn’t want to be, Adora. It was your choice to leave the Horde. It was your choice to pick up that magic sword and become She-Ra. It was your choice to join the princesses and fight for the Rebellion.”

Catra stepped back. Her voice was hard: “Your place was never really with me and the Horde, was it? I think you’ve always known that deep down. I’m just sorry it took me so long to see that too.”

A tear escaped from the corner of Adora’s eye. “I...I never wanted to hurt you, Catra. I wish…”

“You wish what?” Catra asked tonelessly.

Adora stared at her, paralysed, lost for words.

“You don’t even know **what** you really want, Adora,” Catra said despondently.

Adora’s words came hesitantly: “I…I want…”

The opening of doors and entering footsteps halted their conversation. Catra turned her head to see a pair of clones, armed with stun gun weapons, approaching from the doorway. 

As they came to stop before Catra, they looked at Adora and one of them announced: “The Emperor is ready. Bring her.”

They walked in silence through the white corridors of the Horde mothership. With arms still shackled behind her, Adora followed behind Catra as she led her and the two armed clone guards flanking her to a giant set of doors. One of the clones stepped forward and pressed his palm to a wall-mounted scanner beside the doors. They parted. A massive hall with a polished white floor and surrounded by a seemingly infinite black void was revealed. In the overarching blackness, dots of light imitated stars.

Adora’s eyes were drawn up as she was led into the hall. Two curved spires towered up into the black void, a giant machine of some kind. Beneath the spires, set into the floor, was a large circular pool. Adora could not be sure what was in the pool; it was silvery white and metallic. On either side of the pool were lines of hooded clones, standing statuesque in raised, tiered rows, silently staring down, green eyes unblinking. Adora followed their direction of gaze.

They were focused on a blue, fan-shaped, crystalline set of screens overlooking the pool, or more specifically, on the imposing figure standing in front of the crystalline screens: a tall, broad, immaculate being dressed in pure white and dark grey garments. He bore a resemblance to Hordak, though he was significantly larger in size and frame and possessed the notable difference of an additional two eyes above and below his right eye, acid green in colour with black slits for pupils, and long white hair tied back. He had to be Horde Prime.

As she drew nearer to the large, round pool and the lines of watching hooded clones, Adora also noticed a number of green cylindrical forcefields positioned around the curved perimeter of the hall, underneath the rows of spectating clones. Several clones stood guard by the green forcefield cylinders, and there were figures within them. Adora gasped when she recognised the imprisoned figures: the princesses along with Bow, Swift Wind, King Micah, Castaspella, Shadow Weaver and Queen Angella, each contained within their own forcefield. They all looked back at her in shock and dismay from their prisons.

She was brought to a sudden stop by hands gripping her shoulders from behind. Her two clone guards pressed down on her shoulders, pushing her down onto her knees. As her legs hit the floor, a line of green energy shot up and attached itself around her neck, forming a leash that kept her tied to the floor. She pulled at it, but it held tight.

“Welcome…She-Ra.”

Adora looked up toward the voice directed at her, a voice that was composed and regal, yet possessed an undertone of hidden depth. She saw Horde Prime moving around the pool toward her, arms folded behind his back, his four acid green eyes trained on her.

“You have arrived just in time to bear witness to the harvesting of your world’s power,” he announced with a smile.

Catra stepped back and stood next to Adora as Prime strolled toward them, slowly, gracefully. Despite being tied to the floor by an energy leash and her arms being bound behind her, Adora attempted to fix him with an unfazed glare.

“I assume no introduction is necessary,” he said with a casual air as he approached her.

He took his time, moving at a languid pace as he studied Adora with his four eyes. He stopped in front of her hunched and restrained form and knelt down to her level. He raised a hand to her face, catching her chin between his thumb and silver-tipped index finger, and turned her face from side-to-side, inspecting it.

Catra’s brow furrowed as she watched Prime handling Adora.

“Yours is a face I have not seen in a long time,” Prime remarked at Adora with a note of disdain. “It would seem my ancient enemies thrive still.”

Adora pulled her face from his fingers. “Ancient enemies?” she probed.

“The Eternians, though you call them the ‘First Ones’.” His gaze sharpened at her. “You are one of them, are you not…Adora?”

Adora stared at him in shock. “How do you know about the First Ones?”

The corner of the Horde emperor’s lips rose. “I am eons old, ever living through the bodies of my clone brothers, their lifeblood sustaining my longevity. I have known She-Ra through the ages. I have fought with your predecessors over lifetimes. I have been at odds with those that you call the ‘First Ones’ for longer than you can possibly imagine. But they could never vanquish me. Prime is destined to rise again and again. I am unstoppable. I am **eternal**.”

Prime’s hand rose and his fingers opened before Adora. A green hologram of a planet with pulsing veins of light appeared above his palm. “The First Ones, the Eternians, were searching for new sources of power, magic in particular,” he informed with a darkening tone. “They scoured the universe for it, draining planets dry where they discovered sources.” The pulsing veins of the holographic planet dimmed. “Your presence on this little world of magic is far from coincidence. No doubt you were brought here to harness the Heart of Etheria.” A hologram of a gold female figure with long flowing hair and holding aloft a sword appeared over the green planet as the light of its veins dissipated. “Only a being like She-Ra could channel and withstand such raw power.”

Prime’s fingers closed and the holograms vanished. He stood up to tower over Adora and looked down at her with dark eyes. “I clashed with your ancestors over worlds and sources of power. Now, I intend to use the power of a world they abandoned. Where they failed to harness the Heart of Etheria, I will succeed. And with the accumulated power of Etheria, I will fulfil my goal of spreading peace and order across the universe, by bringing this and all other worlds into my guiding light.”

“Peace and order?” Adora questioned critically, “By controlling worlds?”

Prime watched her unaffectedly. “Sacrifices must be made for the greater good, freedom and autonomy amongst them.”

“You’ll never have the Heart’s power!” Adora shot at him defiantly. “She-Ra will never give it to you!”

A smirk formed on Prime’s lips. “My dear, I do not need She-Ra to give me anything. For I have found another means of accessing the Heart of Etheria, a key that has been hidden amongst you all along.”

“Another key?” Adora repeated uncomprehendingly.

The sound of footsteps approaching caused Adora, as well as all the imprisoned princesses and rebels in the forcefields, to look toward the back of the hall. Two figures, one tall, the other short, emerged from shadows. Adora’s eyes grew large as a small figure with long lilac and cerise pigtails, followed by a tall, dark-haired clone, stepped into the light before her. Her mouth fell open.

“Entrapta?” she uttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The major players are gathered. The stage is set for the endgame.
> 
> Is there something going on between Catra and Adora? Maybe. I have a lot of conflicting feelings about these two and there are no easy answers.
> 
> Next chapter, Horde Prime's plans come to fruition.


	23. Key to the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horde Prime unveils his plans for the Heart of Etheria, but not all is as it seems amongst his followers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are looking bleak. The princesses and rebels are captives. Hordak and Entrapta are in the clutches of Horde Prime. Catra and Adora seem further apart than ever. And Etheria is running out of time. What hope is left for the Rebellion?
> 
> Thank you again to everyone who has shown appreciation for this fic. It's been great to read comments from new and hidden readers too.

They stepped out of the shadows into the view of all: Entrapta followed closely by Hordak. Adora gaped as the Princess of Dryl came to a stop before her, overshadowed by the imposing form of Hordak. Her magenta eyes were dull as was Hordak’s. Their statuesque postures mirrored one another. Entrapta was in a long white halterneck dress emblazoned with the dark grey Horde symbol. Her lilac and cerise pigtails trailed behind her. A reddish pink, oval crystal gleamed from her forehead. Behind her, Hordak stood impressively, adopting a straight military posture. He was in a white Horde uniform dress and dark grey cape; silver armour covered his arms and shoulders; his eyes were green like Horde Prime’s and his dark blue hair was slicked back.

“Entrapta?” Adora uttered cautiously. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

Horde Prime walked past Adora toward Entrapta, arms folded behind his back. “Princess Entrapta is going to accomplish what you have failed to,” he casually answered, “accessing the Heart of Etheria’s power.”

Adora eyes widened in panic. “Entrapta, no!” she pleaded hastily. “You don’t want to do this! It’s too dangerous-”

Prime stopped beside Entrapta and bent down to her ear. “You see how fearful and limited your fellow princesses are?” he said softly. “Is it not a pity that they do not possess your capacity for seeing greater possibilities and scientific exploration? They would prevent you from accomplishing great things and making amazing discoveries. Truly, they have been holding you back from achieving your full potential. Real friends would not wish to do such a thing. Real friends would encourage your talents, is that not so?”

Entrapta’s eyes lowered from Adora’s.

“But the Horde understands you,” Prime continued. “The Horde values your gifts.”

Prime looked to Adora again with a smile that was disconcerting. “You are not the only descendent of the First Ones alive on Etheria, Adora,” he calmly explained. “It has come to my knowledge that Princess Entrapta is of both Etherian and Eternian noble blood.”

He reached for one of Entrapta’s large pigtails and picked up a strand of her lilac and cerise hair delicately between two fingers, gazing down at it and twisting it. Unnoticed behind them, Hordak’s hands rolled into fists.

“A rarity,” Prime continued speaking. “I believe she possesses the means to open a portal into the Heart of Etheria with her unique runestone. And with our magic-conducting Krytian liquid alloy at her disposal,” he indicated to the pool of silver white liquid ahead of them with a glance, “she will be able to extract and channel the Heart’s power into this flagship.”

He smiled broadly at Adora. “It will be a scientific undertaking of the greatest magnitude. And you and your fellow rebels will have the honour of witnessing it first-hand.”

Turning back to Entrapta, Prime saw her watching the imprisoned princesses and rebels in the green forcefield cylinders around the hall, her expression unsettled. Hordak followed her gaze across the prisoners, his sight lingering on Glimmer who stared back at him sadly.

Prime’s hand descended onto Entrapta’s shoulder. “It is unfortunate that your fellow princesses were not as willing to accept my wisdom and gifts as you, Princess Entrapta,” he said heavily. “They attempted to deceive me and spurned my generosity. But they will see. They will see the brilliance of your greatest scientific achievement.”

His hand slid off her shoulder and extended out to her. “Come now, Princess. Ascend. Your moment of glory is at hand.”

Hordak’s expression shifted subtly, brow creasing. His fists tightened as he watched his emperor extending his hand to Entrapta. “My Emperor,” he said suddenly, drawing Prime’s attention, “I am compelled to remind you of the risks of proceeding now. We have not had the time to conduct sufficient testing on-”

Prime’s four acid green eyes narrowed at him. “Little Brother,” he interrupted, voice darkening, “if I did not know any better, I would say you were…stalling.”

Hordak’s eyes shot open. “No, Brother!” he denied quickly. “I wish only to ensure your success and victory!”

Prime’s expression and voice remained unaffected. “Do you now?”

He stepped closer to Hordak and leaned forward, cupping his cheeks in his hands and lifting his head up to him. His voice dropped to an unsettling depth: “Would you lie to your Emperor, Little Brother?”

His sharp thumb dragged down the flesh of Hordak’s right cheek, causing him to flinch. “You ought to know better than that.”

The clawed tips of his fingers dug into Hordak’s cheeks as he drew his face up closer to his. Hordak stared helplessly up into his creator’s four piercing green eyes. “Are you…concerned for her?”

“STOP! DON’T HURT HIM!”

The outburst from Entrapta drew the Horde emperor’s attention. His head turned to her. Her eyes were wide with terror, her chest was rising and falling with heavy breaths, her gloved hands were squeezed into fists at her sides. Hordak, still in the clutches of his emperor’s claws, could not see her, but his eyes had widened when he heard her raise her voice to Horde Prime…for him.

Prime eyed her with muted irritation.

“I’ll activate the machine!” she cried desperately. “But you have to promise me that Hordak won’t be harmed! EVER!”

Prime’s four acid green eyes sharpened subtly at her.

Her magenta eyes stayed fixed on him. Her face hardened. “Give me your word that Hordak will be safe, and I’ll do whatever you want!”

A smile crept steadily onto Prime’s lips. He released his grip on Hordak’s face, letting his little brother fall onto the floor in a crumpled heap. “My little brother will remain…unharmed. You have my word, Princess.”

Entrapta rushed to Hordak’s side and bent down beside him. Anxiously, she gently took hold of his face with her pigtails, lifting his head and carefully inspecting him for injury.

“Please, give us a moment,” she requested, looking up insistently at Horde Prime.

The Horde emperor was still for a moment, then simply nodded and stepped back, though never taking his eyes off them.

Entrapta turned back to Hordak, face softening.

“Entrapta…,“ Hordak whispered unsteadily.

“It’s going to be okay, Hordak,” she said softly.

Hordak stared at her, unable to speak.

She smiled a small smile, bringing her face closer to his.

“It was nice…being your partner.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Her hands found his on the floor, settling over them.

“I’m glad…I got to be with you…one more time.”

Her hands tightened around his.

She leaned in, uttering hushed words into his ear:

“You’re not just a clone, Hordak.” Her hand rose to his chest, landing over his heart. “You’re so much more than that. You’re **you**.” Her fingers slid across to the spot beneath his neck. “And…you’re **loved**.”

Her lips, feather-light, brushed his cheek. An electricity ran over his skin at the contact. His breath hitched.

Then she pulled away, breathing out: “Remember, **your imperfections are beautiful**.”

His eyes widened. His ears dropped. Those words…They were so familiar... 

Her hands drifted away from him as she rose to her feet. Instinctively, he reached for her again, but only managed to grasp the ends of her fingers futilely before they slipped out of his hands.

She turned away from him quickly before he could see the tear descending from her cheek.

She faced Horde Prime again.

Wordlessly, Prime extended his hand to her once more. She approached him and took hold of it.

With her hand in his, he led her toward the towering spires of the giant portal generator and the large, round pool of silvery white Krytian liquid alloy beneath it. Overlooking the pool, fan-shaped, crystalline screens displayed live images of alien races and Horde clones from other conquered worlds of the Horde Empire.

Prime came to a stop before the pool and turned Entrapta around with him to face the spectating clones in the tiered rows above and the imprisoned princesses and rebels in their forcefield cylinders. He kept his hold on her gloved hand as he began to address his audience:

“Exalted brothers of the glorious Horde Empire, rejoice! A new world of magic, Etheria, has been welcomed into our light!” His hand swept upwards in a grand gesture. “From her heart, a mighty power will be gained, one which will ensure our universal supremacy and quell any opposition to our righteous rule!”

Impassioned cries and cheers rose from the tiered rows of clones.

Prime smiled. “Bear witness to our moment of triumph as we harness the Heart of Etheria’s power with the aid of this enlightened princess of Etheria!” He held up Entrapta’s hand in his. “Praise be to her for her noble contribution to our cause!”

“Praise be to her!” the clones chorused.

Prime gazed down expectantly at Entrapta. “It is time, Princess.” He gestured with an unfurling arm toward the metallic pool. “Fulfil your destiny.”

She looked out across the fearful faces of the imprisoned princesses and Adora behind her. Her eyes landed on Hordak who was still crumpled on the floor, watching her with large green eyes, seemingly paralysed.

Then she shut her eyes and turned to face the silvery white liquid alloy pool and the towering spires of the portal generator. The cerise oval runestone on her forehead began to glow with red light. The liquid alloy in the pool was encompassed by the same red glow and began to sway. It picked up speed and swirled and sloshed with a life of its own.

Moving toward the pool, Entrapta brought her hands up and tendrils of the red-glowing liquid alloy rose from the pool’s surface, reaching for her. The metallic tendrils wrapped around her limbs and raised her off the ground. They merged into a trunk that grew upward with her, lifting her to the height of the two portal spires. Branches of the alloy sprouted out from her outstretched arms, forming a giant cross that she hung from the centre of.

Her head and long hair strands became entangled with the branching veins of the liquid alloy as it spread across her body. From her splayed pigtails, long cables formed and extended to the portal spires, plugging into multiple sockets along them. Between the spires, a circle of red light manifested, gradually expanding into a swirling vortex of red energy. The red portal grew until it filled the space between the spires, becoming large enough to swallow a spaceship.

All eyes stared up at the giant red portal and the tall metallic cross that the Princess of Dryl hung attached to. The cables formed from her hair that hung between the metallic cross and the portal spires were illuminated by red energy coursing through them.

“Yeess,” Prime uttered with a wide grin. “She has done it. She has accessed the power at the Heart of Etheria.”

From their forcefield cylinders, the princesses and rebels looked on in horror.

From her leashed position on the floor, Adora whispered: “No...”

A hand gripped Adora’s shoulder and she looked to it in surprise. She saw Catra kneeling down beside her, looking at her sternly. Their eyes locked together. Catra’s hand slid down Adora’s arm and into her bound hands behind her. Catra’s clawed fingers grasped Adora’s.

“Save Entrapta,” Catra said quietly.

Adora looked at her, confused. “What?”

Suddenly, Adora heard a beep from behind her and felt her cuffs snap open around her wrists. This was immediately followed by the green energy leash around her neck deactivating as Catra brought a key card to it. Now freed, Adora looked at Catra in surprise.

Catra lifted a stun gun and fired an electrical charge at the two nearest clone guards behind them. They collapsed.

“What are you waiting for!” Catra snapped at a stunned Adora, rising quickly to her feet as more clones began running toward them. “Bring out She-Ra already!”

Spurred into action, Adora rose to her feet and held her hand out before her. Her eyes began to glow as she cried out: “FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL!”

Golden light manifested between her fingers and grew into a blade in her hand. She raised it above her head as light encompassed her entire body, transforming her into She-Ra.

Prime and several clones shielded their eyes as the light of She-Ra’s transformation temporarily blinded them. Then Prime saw the glowing form of She-Ra.

“DESTROY HER!” he bellowed, pointing at She-Ra.

Several clones raised arm cannons at her, barrels glowing green as they prepared to fire. Swinging her sword through the air, She-Ra sent a wave of rainbow-coloured energy at them, knocking them backwards onto the floor. More clones came from behind and Catra fired her stun gun at them. They fell as they were hit by electricity. Prime watched with gritted teeth as She-Ra and Catra, back to back, fought off his clones. 

At the side of the hall, a single clone made his way over to the control panels in front of the forcefields cylinders. He tapped at the controls quickly. Suddenly, to the surprise of the captive princesses and rebels, their forcefield prisons dropped.

Immediately, Micah pulled his hands free from behind himself. His cuffs fell to the floor with a clatter, along with the key card he had used to unlock them. Wasting no time, he raised his hands and drew a circle with symbols into the air. A magic aura suddenly engulfed Shadow Weaver and Castaspella’s restraints on either side of him. Their cuffs broke open and fell from their wrists as well. They looked down at their freed hands in surprise, then at Micah.

“Help the princesses!” Micah shouted at them.

Shadow Weaver and Castaspella nodded simultaneously and, together, the three sorcerers brought up their arms to begin spell-casting. They summoned magical attacks at the clones running toward them and the powerless princesses around the hall. Shadow Weaver’s dark magic ran through the floor and formed tendrils that snagged unprepared clones. Castaspella launched bolts of magical energy at oncoming clones. Micah traced the shape of a dome in the air and a dome-shaped pink magical barrier formed over their heads, blocking off the clones in the tiered rows above them.

Looking to the freed rebels, Catra began to run toward the nearest one: Glimmer. She fired her stun gun at a clone charging toward the young Bright Moon queen from behind, knocking him down. Glimmer turned quickly and looked down at the fallen clone behind her. Then her glittering eyes rose to Catra, sharpening.

“Whose side are you on, Catra?” she angrily demanded.

Catra bent over the clone she had just felled and grabbed a baton stick from his claws. “Right now, yours!” She threw the baton to Glimmer who caught it. “Look, we don’t have time to argue! Just take down some of these clones!”

Another clone approached the two young women. Catra and Glimmer raised their weapons simultaneously at him. He threw up his hands in surrender.

“Oh, you don’t want to hurt me, darlings,” he said with a toothy grin. “I deactivated the forcefields!”

Suddenly, the clone’s body changed into a dark mass and began to re-shape itself into a new form. A green, reptilian, humanoid creature with blonde hair and a lizard-like tail appeared in place of the grinning clone.

“Double Trouble?” Both Catra and Glimmer gasped in unison.

The shapeshifter grinned widely at them. “At your service once again.” They bowed with a flourish of their slender arm.

Catra’s eyes were wide. “It was you who gave me the map to Entrapta’s location!” she realised aloud.

Double Trouble nodded. “Mmhmm.” They looked at Glimmer. “I also gave your father the key to his restraints. You’re welcome.”

“How did you even get here?” Glimmer asked incredulously.

They glanced at Catra with a smirk. “I just followed my kitten here after the Horde invasion at Bright Moon. Been posing as one of Horde Prime’s clones since being beamed up.” They pouted. “Probably the most boring role I’ve ever played.” They grinned again. “I am of course expecting to be well-paid for my assistance.”

Catra groaned quietly. “Ugh, sure, whatever. Just help us stop Horde Prime now.”

Double Trouble clapped their hands together. “Sure thing, Kitten! And no hard feelings about double-crossing you before, right? It was just business, you understand.”

Catra merely glared at them.

“A TRAITOR AND A SPY!”

The booming voice of Horde Prime caused Catra, Glimmer and Double Trouble to look up. The Horde emperor was glaring at them through slitted acid green eyes, lips twisted into a snarl.

At that moment, more clones spilled into the hall from the entrance and surrounded all the rebels.

“I’ve got to go! Keep them busy!” Catra ordered at Glimmer and Double Trouble. She took off before either of them could say anything further.

As the princesses and rebels contended with another wave of clones, Catra headed for one particular clone. She caught sight of him still on his knees, staring up with stricken green eyes at Entrapta on the metallic cross. He seemed oblivious to the chaos erupting around him. He was motionless, his face frozen in despair.

Catra reached him and grabbed him by his plated shoulders. “Hordak!” she shouted.

He did not respond to her. His eyes remained fixed on the princess on the cross above him. Catra growled impatiently.

“HORDAK!” she shouted louder. “C’mon! Snap out of it, Loverboy! Do you want to save Entrapta or not?”

He looked at Catra forlornly. “It is too late…”

Catra grabbed the collar of his white uniform and pulled him roughly to her face. “No, it’s not!” she snapped frustratedly. “If you can stop Horde Prime, we can still save her!”

“Turn against my Emperor and Brother…,” he uttered fearfully. “I cannot…”

Catra groaned in irritation. Then a sharp screech from above attracted her attention and she looked up. Something small was flying overhead. It was Hordak’s little pet spy, the ‘Imp’. The little winged demon had come out of nowhere and was screeching urgently at her. He dropped something on the floor beside her with a clatter. She looked down at it.

It was a diamond-shaped fuchsia crystal, the First Ones’ crystal she had ripped out of Hordak’s armour so long ago in the Fright Zone. Her mouth fell open. She reached for it and tentatively picked it up. She brought it up to Hordak’s face. His expression froze. His breath stilled.

“Do you remember this?” Catra asked in a low voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this image in my head of a frustrated Catra standing over a distraught Hordak and calling him 'Loverboy'. It just had to written down.
> 
> Surprise! The mystery smiling clone was Double Trouble! Though some of you already guessed that. And Imp's appearance with the L.U.V.D. crystal was something anticipated as well I'm sure. I wanted him to have a part to play in the end too.
> 
> The alloy cross that Entrapta hangs from is a nod to Lisa's crucifixtion-style burning from _Castlevania_. I've always loved how Hordak and Entrapta's first meeting in the Sanctum back in season 2 mirrors Dracula and Lisa's first meeting at the beginning of _Castlevania_. In both cases, they're two completely opposite-looking people on the outsde, one's dark and evil, the other's fair and compassionate. But underneath, they're intelligent, rational and scientific and have similar experiences of been shunned by the world around them. It is in the same manner that Lisa surprised Dracula with her lack of fear and desire to learn on first meeting that Entrapta also surprised Hordak. Hordak even circles Entrapta in the way that Dracula did with Lisa. I just love the parallels between these two couples!
> 
> Next chapter, the rebels fight back.
> 
> Will aim to update again next week, but might end up needing longer to complete the next few chapters. Be assured though, I'm determined to see this fic through to the end!


	24. Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horde Prime's extraction of the Heart of Etheria's power is jeopardized when the Rebellion breaks free and fights back against his clone forces. Catra attempts to revive Hordak's memories and She-Ra battles to reach Entrapta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't manage to update on Saturday as I usually do as I was still finishing this chapter off over the weekend, but here it is now. Thanks for your patience and hope it was worth the wait.
> 
> Princesses versus Horde clones, long-awaited reunions, the L.U.V.D. crystal, Catra and Hordak enmity, a confrontation with Horde Prime and She-Ra facing an adversary she never anticipated. Buckle your seat belts, readers! This one's jam-packed!
> 
> As always, comments are highly cherished!

Micah, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver’s magic had taken down and blocked most of the Horde clones initially present in the great hall, giving the powerless princesses time to scatter. But when another larger wave of clones had entered the hall, chaos had ensued.

Mermista was being pursued by three Horde clones. She let out a long, suffering groan as she ran.

“UHHHH! Why did we have to be stuck on an alien spaceship where we can’t use magic!” she moaned loudly.

The sounds of a loud blast from behind followed by bodies hitting the floor brought Mermista to a stop and she turned around. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of Frosta standing triumphantly holding a Horde cannon that was too large for her over her shoulder. The three clones that had been pursuing Mermista now lay limp on the floor.

“Take that Horde scum!” the ice princess shouted victoriously, pumping a little fist into the air.

Mermista stared at her, mouth agape. “Where did you…How are you even…Uh! Never mind!” She hurried over to Frosta and held out her hands. “Just give that to me before you, like, fall over or have an accident or something.”

Frosta pouted. “I’m perfectly capable of holding a weapon!” she argued.

“Uh, not one that’s as big as you!” Mermista countered, still holding out her hands expectantly.

Frosta grumbled, but relented. She pushed the large cannon off her small shoulder and into the waiting hands of the sea princess. Mermista nearly dropped it as it rolled heavily into her arms.

“UHHHH!” she groaned again as she struggled to lift the large weapon under her arm.

Frosta watched her with a quirked eyebrow as she strained to lift the cannon onto her shoulder. Frosta then bent down and picked up a smaller stun gun from the floor that had been dropped by one of the fallen clones. She looked at it and shrugged.

“Follow me,” Mermista instructed, finally succeeding in hoisting the cannon over her shoulder. “For Etheria!”

Mermista and Frosta let out loud cries as they charged into battle.

Perfuma backed into a wall as a group of armed clones advanced on her. Seeing no escape, she turned her face away and squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating their attack. But when somebody dashed in front of her, she opened her eyes again and was stunned to see the broad back of Scorpia. The larger scorpion princess took a wider stance and held out her arms to shield Perfuma. The clones ran at her and she knocked them back with her large pincer claws. Her venom-tipped tail also struck a couple of them.

When all the clones lay scattered on the floor, Scorpia turned round and smiled at a starry-eyed Perfuma.

“Scorpia, you...saved me!” Perfuma exclaimed, her hands linked together.

Blushing, Scorpia raised a pincer claw to the back of her head and rubbed at it. “It was nothing.”

The scorpion and flower princesses stood staring at one another, smiling.

Their moment was interrupted by the sounds of more approaching clones.

“Oops, better go!” Scorpia announced hastily.

Perfuma yelped in surprise when Scorpia suddenly scooped her up in her broad arms and began running away with her. More clones followed closely on their heels.

Angella had recognised the magic of the pink barrier that formed overhead to keep the spectating rows of clones at bay. It was Micah’s magic. She searched immediately for him, scanning the hall. Then she found him, standing with Castaspella and Shadow Weaver. The trio of sorcerers were summoning magical attacks and defences against the clones.

The former queen’s eyes widened. Her beloved Micah was truly alive. He was as she remembered him: powerful, brave, fighting to save others. For a moment, she wondered if she was trapped between portals again, hallucinating. Then he turned his face in her direction. Their eyes met. Everything else fell away.

Tears formed in her eyes. She saw them forming in his too. 

Before she could think, she had spread her translucent wings and was soaring toward him. He reached up to her with a hand encircled by magic symbols. A pink sphere of magic encompassed her, blocking cannon fire from the ground that struck harmlessly against it.

The long-separated queen and king called out to one another:

“Micah!”

“Angella!”

Angella landed clumsily before Micah and they rushed to each other. Within the protective pink sphere, they threw themselves into one another’s arms. Angella’s wings wrapped around Micah instinctively and she pressed her head on top of his.

“My Micah.”

“Angie.”

Tears streamed down their faces as they murmured one another’s names.

After years of solitude and grief, husband and wife rejoiced in being reunited.

Glimmer let out a loud cry as she whacked another clone on the head with her stolen stun baton. Then she looked up and caught sight of two people in the distance: her parents...together. She froze. For a moment, time stopped. She was a child again. All that she was aware of was her parents standing in one another’s embrace. It felt like a dream. Mom and Dad…together again.

She was pulled out of her dazed state when a shot of electricity whizzed past her and struck an oncoming clone beside her. Surprised, she turned to her other side to see Double Trouble holding up the stun gun that had fired the shot.

“Er, thanks,” she offered.

“Anything for my ‘generous’ queen!” the shapeshifter responded with a grin. Then they glanced down at their stun gun and frowned. “Unfortunately, I seem to be out of ammo now.” They tossed the gun away.

More armed clones were advancing on them. Glimmer held her stun baton out at them as Double Trouble stayed behind her.

Then the sudden loud neighing of a horse and the flapping of wings caused them to look up. They saw Bow riding on Swift Wind and descending toward them.

“Glimmer!” Bow called out as Swift Wind flew right through the advancing clones, sending them scattering.

“Bow!” Glimmer called back.

As soon as Swift Wind landed, Bow jumped off the winged horse’s back and ran straight for Glimmer. Glimmer rushed to him as well and the two crashed into each other in a mess of embracing arms.

“Glimmer! Are you alright? I was so worri-”

Bow’s words were cut off by Glimmer’s lips suddenly pressing onto his. His eyes widened in surprise. But then he brought his arms around her and sank into her kiss, closing his eyes.

The young queen and archer stood locked together for a long moment. Double Trouble and Swift Wind looked at them then at each other, exchanging grins and suggestive eyebrow raising. When Glimmer and Bow pulled apart, they looked into each other’s eyes.

“I love you,” Glimmer said simply.

Bow smiled gently. “I love you too.”

Hordak stared with wide green eyes at the diamond-shaped fuchsia crystal in Catra’s hand. His reflection stared back at him from its shining surface. Engraved on the crystal’s surface, strange symbols he could not read spoke to him in whispers he could not hear. But he felt them. He felt them settling in his chest, wrapping around his heart. And a word emerged from those whispers through his lips.

“Entrapta,” he exhaled.

He was being intently watched by the eyes of Catra and Imp. Catra was gripping his white uniform roughly at his chest, impatiently holding the crystal before him. Imp, who had been circling overhead, landed beside Hordak and crawled forward, looking up at him eagerly.

Catra brought the crystal closer to Hordak’s face. “You used to wear it in your armour,” she said tensely.

The former warlord’s clawed fingers rose tentatively to the crystal, hovering over its symbols.

“I…took it from you…,” Catra said in a voice barely audible, her eyes shifting away from him momentarily. “You can take it back now.”

Slowly, Hordak’s fingers encircled the crystal, claiming it.

He gasped as images flooded into his mind: the Fright Zone, his Sanctum, the portal, Entrapta’s face haloed by raining sparks…

He dropped his head, eyes squeezing shut and inhaling sharply. His body fell forward abruptly onto his arms, a shudder passing through it. His hand tightened around the crystal.

Catra backed away from him.

Then he lifted his head again, his midnight blue hair falling over his forehead. His eyes opened. They had changed. The green of Prime had vanished. His former vibrant blood red had returned.

Imp let out an excited screech from his side. His master was himself again.

Hordak’s head turned toward his little spy to regard him. His hand rose and landed on Imp’s head. Imp’s eyes shut and he purred happily as his master rubbed his head familiarly.

“I remember…,” Hordak uttered. Then his vibrant red eyes swept back to Catra and narrowed. “I remember what you did.” He rose to his feet slowly, glaring dangerously at Catra.

Imp jumped onto his master’s arm and crawled up to his familiar perch on his shoulder. He followed his master in glaring at Catra.

“Hordak, I know you’d love to end my miserable life,” Catra said warily, “but we’ve got bigger problems right now. Entrapta’s in danger. Horde Prime’s using her to drain the magic of Etheria.”

She pointed up to the large metallic cross where Entrapta hung entangled in alloy branches. Hordak followed the direction of her finger, looking up at Entrapta. He bared his red teeth. His red eyes widened.

From her position at the centre of the cross, Entrapta’s long pigtails were encased and extended by the liquid alloy, forming cables that connected with the spires of the portal generator opposite her. A giant red portal hung suspended between the towering spires, its centre pulsing with brilliant white light around which the portal’s red energies swirled. A red glow emanated from Entrapta’s hair cables and from around her, spreading to the cross that she hung from and the liquid alloy in the pool beneath her.

Hordak’s gaze was fixated upon her and he began to move forward. But Catra’s hand suddenly gripped his lower arm, halting him. He snapped his head back at the feline woman with gritted teeth, letting out an angry hiss.

“She-Ra’s going to help her!” Catra snapped. “But Horde Prime has to be stopped now! And you have the best chance of standing up against him!”

Hordak froze as her words hit him. Turn against Horde Prime, his brother, his creator, his emperor. The thought filled him with terror. There could be no greater transgression, no greater sin…

But Entrapta’s life was in danger. His lab partner and true friend…She needed him.

His god or his dearest friend. His faith or his heart.

He squeezed the First Ones’ crystal in his grip.

There was only one choice he could fathom.

His vivid red eyes found Horde Prime standing near the liquid alloy pool, engaged with watching the chaos around him, his usually composed expression now replaced by a dark anger.

Hordak pocketed the First Ones’ crystal by his hip, keeping his gaze trained on Prime.

“I will deal with my brother,” he stated tonelessly to Catra.

His hands fisted at his sides and he began to walk forward. Imp flew off his shoulder, returning to the air.

Catra immediately caught up beside him. He stopped and looked down at her in irritation.

“Stay out of my way, Catra,” he growled.

“You need my help against Prime,” she insisted, eyes hardening. “Don’t forget who won when we fought in the Fright Zone.”

The armour plates of Hordak’s right arm suddenly shifted and re-formed, transforming into a long cannon that swallowed up his arm. The former warlord’s red eyes blazed at Catra and he emitted a deep growl that caused Catra to take a step back.

“You are fortunate indeed that you are not my priority right now,” he snarled, then snapped away from her and continued striding toward Prime, carrying his hefty arm cannon.

Recollecting herself, Catra pulled out her stun gun and sprinted ahead of Hordak. Nearing Prime from behind first, she lifted her weapon to him and fired an electrical blast.

The blast struck the back of the unsuspecting Horde emperor. He lurched forward, but did not fall. Catra stared at him in surprise. A blast from the stun gun had knocked out his clones before…

Prime turned round slowly to face her, his acid green eyes narrowing to slits. “You disappoint me, Catra. I had thought you worthy of great things in the Horde.” He advanced toward her. “Did you really think I would fall so easily? I who have lived for eons. I who am all-powerful, all-seeing.” 

Catra fired another electrical blast at him. He lifted his hand and swatted the incoming blast aside. Then suddenly his arm snapped out, and before Catra could react, Prime had grabbed her wrist. She cried out when he pulled her forcefully toward him and grabbed her face with his other hand, claws digging into her cheeks. He gazed down at her with unfeeling green eyes.

“I am a god amongst my brothers,” he uttered, “genetically and biochemically enhanced to perfection, strengthened and sustained by my brothers’ lifeblood.” His grip on Catra’s face tightened and her eyes squeezed shut in pain. “What chance did you, a small, weak creature, imagine you had against me?”

Suddenly, a blast of green energy struck Prime in the side of his face. The emperor roared in fury and flung Catra aside. She was thrown to the floor and let out a groan of pain as she landed hard on her side.

Prime was clutching at the side of his face in pain. When he lowered his hand, his additional upper and lower right eyes were sealed shut. He cast his green glare furiously in the direction from which the blast had come and saw Hordak standing with his arm cannon raised. The cannon was still thrumming, green energy in its barrel ready to be discharged. Hordak’s shoulders were rising and falling steadily as he breathed heavily.

“So, it is true, Little Brother!” Prime sneered. “You have been thoroughly **corrupted** by the half-breed Etherian temptress!”

Hordak’s red eyes widened and his fortitude diminished as Prime approached him with long arms spread at his sides and voice rising in force:

“ **You have rejected the light of your god and chosen darkness and damnation! So be it! You will join your precious Etherian princess in suffering and oblivion!** ”

Suddenly, Prime reached out and seized the barrel of Hordak’s cannon with one large hand. With frightening speed and strength, he tore the whole weapon clean off Hordak’s arm. Pieces of metal were sent flying. Hordak reacted by bringing up his other plated arm in defence, but Prime caught it. Prime’s talons dug into the armour of Hordak’s arm and ripped it away like paper. There were crackles of electricity as circuitry was torn apart. Disarmed and stunned, Hordak was helpless as Prime’s talons then swept down onto his chest, tearing through the dark grey Horde emblem there and slicing open his white uniform.

Hordak staggered back, chest and both arms now exposed. His white uniform was torn open at the front, baring his scarred and discoloured chest, where white and dark blue veins ran across his skin. The branching scars of his former illness extended along the lengths of his lithe but defined arms too. Vulnerable and ashamed, Hordak’s long ears dropped and his head lowered.

Clones appeared around him then, surrounding Hordak. Their cannons were raised at him.

Prime walked toward him, glaring down at him in disgust.

“ **Let all see the abomination you are!** ” Prime declared coldly.

She-Ra was heading toward the large metallic cross rising from the alloy pool and the giant red portal facing it. There were still too many clones between her and her target though. Raising her sword, she swung it down and struck the floor, sending a line of rainbow-coloured energy shooting through the clone ranks and cutting a path through them. She ran through the cleared path, charging past a few clones who attempted block her progress.

When she encountered a line of clones with raised cannons pointing at her, she sliced through the air with her sword and sent another wave of rainbow energy at them. The rainbow energy wave struck their cannons, disabling them. She-Ra then proceeded to throw herself at the line of clones and began knocking and throwing them down until they all lay scattered across the floor.

At last, she reached the edge of the alloy pool that was glowing red with energy. Looking up, she saw the red portal, its centre a blazing white light, and opposite, Entrapta hanging limply at the centre of the cross. The tech princess’ eyes were closed and her hair, transformed into cables by the alloy, extended forward and connected to the portal generator spires on the other end of the pool. The small princess’ body radiated red with the Heart of Etheria’s energy.

She-Ra held up her sword and closed her eyes. The sword glowed brighter and the red energy from the pool was drawn to it. Slowly, She-Ra began pulling the power of the Heart of Etheria into herself.

Silvery white alloy tendrils emerged from the pool and wrapped around She-Ra’s arms and legs. She cried out in surprise as she was swept off the ground and lifted up into the air. The alloy tendrils spread across her body, immobilising her. She was brought up to the centre of the cross where Entrapta hung motionless, entangled in alloy branches, fused to the cross.

As She-Ra came face to face with an unconscious Entrapta, thin, alloy-wrapped strands of Entrapta’s long hair reached out and touched both sides of her face. The strands slid up to her temples, pressing into them. It felt like they were penetrating her skull, her brain…There was something in her head…like a connection being formed. Her eyes were closing...

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes on this chapter:
> 
> The princesses are cut off from their runestones on the Horde mothership as was established in earlier chapters, hence why they are powerless. The sorcerers however are not dependent on runestones for the use of their magic. They are still able to wield magic as they can draw on their own energy reserves and the environment around them.
> 
> Hordak's body has largely been restored to health after reconditioning, so he is physically functional without armour and cybernetic enhancements, but he retains former scarring and discolouration that he is still ashamed of.
> 
> As sweet as it was to have Entrapta bring the L.U.V.D. crystal back to Hordak in the show's final season, I thought having Catra return the crystal to Hordak here was fitting being that she was the one who took it away from him in their season 4 finale fight. Catra and Hordak's fallout at the end of season 4 was something that I had hoped season 5 would address, since it could have involved Entrapta as well. But it was only briefly and indirectly referenced on a couple of occasions.
> 
> For much of this fic, I've been writing Catra as avoidant and dismissive in her attitude to Hordak. This wasn't so much because she held a grudge against him after their fight at the end of season 4. It was more because he's been another source of deep guilt that she's actively been avoiding dwelling on. His reconditioned state also made it easier for her to avoid thinking too much about him. But after seeing Entrapta again, she is forced to confront the consequences of her actions against Hordak as well.
> 
> Catra facing Horde Prime along with Hordak was counter to their hostility toward each other. But it was motivated by Catra's desire to save Entrapta and help Adora. It works as a recompense for her wrongdoings against Hordak and Entrapta, helps save the princesses whom she previously betrayed to Horde Prime, and rejects Prime's control over her up until now. Her allegiance has been fickle throughout this fic as her survival instincts and familiar habits have conflicted with her feelings and deeper emotions. But she's now made a final decision to help the Rebellion.
> 
> On the couples, Scorpia and Perfuma was a pairing that emerged out of season 5. Micah and Angella never got a final reunion in the show since Angella was never brought back from portal entrapment. Though this served to cement the impact of her sacrifice at the end of season 3, it meant Glimmer's familiy remained tragically incomplete and Angella never learnt what truly became of Micah. And Glimmer and Bow's reunion in this chapter came after long-term separation and realising their true feelings toward one another whilst apart. Absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say.
> 
> I've got about another four chapters in mind for this fic. One or two post-exploratory/epilogue fics are a possibility depending on time, inspiration and reader feedback.
> 
> Next chapter, She-Ra confronts Entrapta!


	25. Being Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the fate of Etheria hangs in the balance, Adora finds herself face to face with an adversary she cannot defeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait, readers. Been working on the next few chapters and this one went through quite a few edits. Hope it pleases and do let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks again for all the support!
> 
> Be warned, this one might be a little emotional.

Adora’s eyes cracked open.

Darkness surrounded her. But there was a circle of red light glittering in the distance.

She lifted a hand to the red light. It looked like a sparkling ruby moon.

Then she looked down at herself. She was in her old red and white Horde outfit. Her hand went to her wrist, then her back. Where was her sword?

Something was off. She couldn’t see the ground beneath her feet, or any discernible surroundings. Just a void-like darkness that resembled the once starless night skies of Etheria. She didn’t feel like she was really here.

This place wasn’t real.

“The charged Krytian alloy seems to have enabled a mind-merge! Fascinating!”

The high-pitched female voice caused Adora to jump and she looked to her side to locate it. In the darkness, a large spider-like form descended, as if crawling down a wall. Two bright blue dots pierced the darkness from the spider’s head as it looked in Adora’s direction.

“Entrapta?” Adora asked warily, arms raised defensively.

The spider emerged from the darkness, revealing Entrapta raised on long legs of her lilac and cerise hair. She was in her usual lab outfit: plum-coloured overalls held up by the straps over her shoulders, oil-stained white shirt and work gloves. Her bug-styled mask was down over her face, large, almond-shaped lenses glowing bright blue. Reaching up with a hand, she pushed up her mask to reveal a beaming face.

“Hi, Adora!” she greeted brightly.

Adora blinked and glanced around herself. “What...What’s-?”

“Don’t worry!” Entrapta interrupted cheerfully. “I’ve just established a neural link between us in order to disable your She-Ra powers!” She grinned. “Can’t have you inadvertently disrupting the big experiment after all!”

“The big experiment?” Adora repeated, uncomprehending.

In a grand gesture, Entrapta swept an arm out toward the glittering ruby moon in the distance.

“ **A portal into the Heart of Etheria!** ” she announced gleefully. She cackled. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Adora stared at the ruby moon then back at her in horror, mouth falling open.

“Entrapta, you have to stop this!” she cried desperately. “You’re draining Etheria’s magic! And Horde Prime will use it to conquer and control other worlds!”

Entrapta looked at her blankly, not moving immediately. Then she turned herself away on her legs of hair, facing in the direction of the ruby moon.

“Horde Prime’s only interest was in extracting the Heart’s power,” she informed unemphatically. “Even he didn’t see the scientific potential.”

As if to touch it, tendrils of her dual-coloured hair reached out toward the ruby moon.

“Etheria’s magic integrating with portal energies…,” she exhaled. Then her tone sharpened: “This is so much bigger than Horde Prime! It’s what I’ve been researching for years: the link between science and magic! How the First Ones combined the two in their technology! This is ground-breaking!”

Suddenly twisting round on her legs of hair, Entrapta whipped herself back to face a stunned Adora. Her eyes were large and animated.

“We’re witnessing the creation of a new kind of power!” she proclaimed manically. “A fusion of interdimensional energy and planetary magic! A source of power greater than any ever known! Imagine the possibilities!”

On her forehead, the Chaos Crystal runestone glowed red. It was enhancing the redness in her naturally magenta eyes, turning them a bright red and giving her gaze an unearthly quality. The sight chilled Adora, causing her to tense.

“This isn’t just about science!” Adora snapped. “You’re harming Etheria by taking its lifeforce! Lives and the fate of worlds are at stake! Don’t you remember why I had to turn against Light Hope and break my sword before? Why Mara turned against her First One leaders and transported Etheria into Despondos a thousand years ago? It was to keep the Heart of Etheria from ever being used! It’s too dangerous! It’ll destroy Etheria and other worlds! People will die!”

Adora’s words hung in the air. Entrapta fell silent, staring at Adora for a long time. Her vivid red eyes seemed to burn into hers. Gradually, she lowered herself to the ground from her legs of hair, standing on her feet instead.

“People…the complicating ethical variable…,” Entrapta said slowly, her voice suddenly quiet. “Yes, I keep forgetting about them…I prioritize science, endanger everything and everyone. I keep making a mess of things, keep making mistakes. And I inevitably fail…” Her bright red eyes wandered away. A hushed breath escaped her lips. “But I would always just keep trying again and again until I found the answers, until I found ways to make things work. It doesn’t work like that with people though, does it?”

Her head lowered and her red gaze dropped. “Science makes sense, but people…don’t. I don’t really understand them. I studied their behaviours, tried to fit in, tried to make friends…But people aren’t like science, are they?” Her gloved hands tightened into fists. “They aren’t logical. They don’t always make sense. They don’t say what they mean. They act in senseless ways. They hurt themselves and one another. They reject people who are different or flawed…like me.”

The red glow of the Chaos Crystal on her forehead faded and shifting strands of hair cast moving shadows over her face. In Adora’s eyes, Entrapta’s face disappeared under the shadows. The lowered bangs of her fringe overshadowed her eyes. And from dark holes, the vivid red of her eyes burned like twin red stars.

The name of Entrapta’s father that Angella had told her resurfaced in Adora’s mind:

_Keldor._

A coldness seeped into Adora’s being. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Why did that name unsettle her? Why did it sound…important?

The shadows receded from Entrapta’s face as it lifted.

Adora’s eyes widened in horror.

Before her, the face of a skull appeared. Two red dots of light burned from its hollow eye sockets. And from between its fleshless teeth, Entrapta’s hollow voice, scratching and blended with a high-pitched male voice, echoed:

_“I’m different. I’m an outsider. I’m not like others. I don’t behave like others. I don’t think like others. Everyone leaves me behind, even my own parents.”_

The skull disappeared into shadows again as Entrapta twisted away on her hair, turning her back to Adora. Her body seemed to shrink and Adora felt her fear pass. Entrapta’s voice was her own again:

“My father was an Eternian, a First One, like you, Adora.” Strands of her lilac and cerise hair wrapped around her arms, rubbing them. “But I’m also half-Etherian. I don’t know what that makes me. Neither fully Etherian, nor Eternian.” Her head lowered. “Maybe that’s why I’m the way I am.”

Cautiously, Adora stepped toward her, lifting a hand to her back but hesitating to touch her. “Entrapta, you’re still one of us. You’re a princess.”

Unseen, a joyless smile formed on Entrapta’s lips.

“I haven’t been much good at that either,” she responded emptily. “I’m not like the rest of the princesses. I was never much of a leader in my kingdom. Hardly ever left my lab in the castle. Didn’t do much in the way of royal duties or responsibilities. Left my kingdom to be taken over by the Horde.”

Adora’s hand dropped. She wasn’t sure if Entrapta was talking to her anymore. The Princess of Dryl seemed disconnected, talking more to herself than her:

“I’ve never really been suited for royalty. I don’t try to set an example for others. I don’t try to be good or do the right things. I’m a scientist. I want to learn things, push boundaries, make new discoveries, advance my understanding and knowledge. People don’t understand that. They think I’m weird. They get upset with my experiments and inventions. They say I don’t care about anything else. They get angry with me.”

Her lilac and cerise hair shivered, strands curling around her. Her voice quietened:

“It gets lonely sometimes, being the only one. Connecting to others is...so hard, so confusing. And I keep getting it wrong…keep getting hurt…”

Like a blanket, her hair settled upon her shoulders and she curled into herself. She was gazing down at her hand now. Standing behind her, Adora followed her gaze down over her shoulder and glimpsed something familiar in her grasp: a diamond-shaped fuchsia crystal with First Ones symbols etched into its surface. Adora was sure she had seen it before.

Entrapta’s voice was soft as she gazed tenderly down at her First Ones crystal: “The only one who ever understood me…was the one that everyone kept telling me was bad…But he…he was more than what others thought, than what he was made for…He was capable of love…” Her thumb stroked the etched symbols on the crystal’s surface. “And he was loved in return…”

Adora watched her thumb moving over the First Ones symbols on the crystal, drawing her attention to them. She read them:

_L.U.V.D._

_Loved._

Adora’s eyes widened in realisation.

_Hordak._

She had seen the crystal in the collar of Hordak’s armour. Entrapta had put it there, had given it to him...

Words barely audible fell from Adora’s mouth:

“Hordak…you loved him…”

Entrapta said nothing, but a tiny sad smile formed on her lips.

“Do you know what it’s like, Adora?” she asked in a small voice. “To love someone? It hurts you. It makes you vulnerable. Because you’d do anything for it. You’d conquer worlds, you’d sacrifice yourself…just for the hope of seeing your loved one again. Because without them…you’re incomplete.”

Tears began to fall from her eyes, glistening as they ran down her cheeks.

Adora felt her eyes beginning to water too. She squeezed them shut in an attempt to stop her own tears. Unbidden, an image of Catra smiling at her as child and then as a young woman appeared before her. When her eyes opened again, her tears had broken loose and were falling freely down her cheeks as well.

Slowly, carefully, the Princess of Power spread her arms and brought them around the Princess of Dryl, embracing her from behind. The Princess of Dryl did not resist. For a long moment, they remained like that, silent as the Princess of Power simply held the Princess of Dryl in solidarity.

“Entrapta...I’m so sorry…for everything you’ve been through,” Adora whispered, “for been treated like an outsider, for been abandoned as a child, for been left behind in the Fright Zone, for been sent to Beast Island and left alone there. You’re right. People can do bad things and hurt one another. But there’s more to people than that. They’re capable of compassion, friendship and love too.”

Adora released her hold on her, letting her arms fall slowly from her sides.

“People aren’t perfect,” she continued in a soft voice. “We’re all capable of doing good and bad things. Sometimes people make a lot of bad decisions and mistakes, and friendship and love can be painful. But it’s worth it in the end. Love and friendship are worth fighting for because we need them. We need people who care for and support us. They make our lives better. They make us better.”

Entrapta turned on her hair, the shadows falling away to reveal her warm, tanned face, and looked back at Adora. Her wet eyes were a vibrant red as the Chaos Crystal glowed gently on her forehead.

“Don’t give up on us, on people,” Adora pleaded gently, lifting her hand to her heart. “Don’t give up on friendship and love. The princesses and I are still your friends, and we still care about you. You’re not alone. Science and tech won’t replace human connections. The Heart of Etheria won’t take away the pain. You’re human too, despite your differences. And you’re a part of Etheria, regardless of your birth, as I am…” She paused. “and as Hordak was.”

Looking into the vibrant red of Entrapta’s eyes, Adora brought a hand to her shoulder. “Please, help me to save our home and everyone we love and care about.”

With a strand of hair, Entrapta rubbed her remaining tears from her face. Her gaze then drifted to the ruby moon in the distance. “I...can’t shut down the portal,” she said in a low voice. “There’s too much power. But maybe I can redirect it.” She brought her shining eyes to Adora’s again. “And you could release the magic...back to Etheria.”

Adora’s eyebrows lifted. “Release the magic back to Etheria?”

“Etheria was a world of magic before the First Ones came and built the Heart of Etheria,” Entrapta explained. “Their technology extracted and contained Etheria’s natural magic within the core of the planet, weaponizing it.”

Her bright red eyes filled with a recognisable optimism. The red light of the Chaos Crystal flickered on her forehead.

“You can free the magic now, Adora,” she said firmly. “Return it to Etheria and restore the planet to its former state.”

For a moment, they held each other’s gazes.

Then Adora extended her hand toward her, lips rising in a smile. “I trust you, Entrapta.”

Entrapta mirrored her smile with a small one and took her hand.

Red light flared from the Chaos Crystal on Entrapta’s forehead, filling Adora’s vision. Entrapta’s eyes, burning like twin red stars, were the last thing Adora saw before being consumed by red fire.

She-Ra’s eyes snapped open.

Entrapta hung entangled in alloy vines on the metallic cross before her. She was in the white dress decorated with the dark grey Horde emblem again. Her eyes were closed. The Chaos Crystal on her forehead shone a vibrant red that surrounded her body in an aura of the same colour.

The alloy-coated strands of Entrapta’s hair retreated from the sides of She-Ra’s head and the metallic tendrils unravelled from around her body.

Then She-Ra’s ice blue eyes glowed white as her body was engulfed in waves of golden energy. She stood, radiant, suspended in the air by magic. Bringing her arms up, she raised her sword above her head. Red energy was pulled from Entrapta’s motionless body and it rose from the alloy pool beneath them to collect around the blade. She-Ra let out a cry as she felt the power of the Heart of Etheria pour unrestrained into her.

She was blinding in her golden brilliance as she turned to face the red portal. Within the portal, the surface of Etheria appeared: blue seas with green land masses and swirls of white atmosphere from afar. She-Ra lowered her sword toward the portal, directing it at Etheria.

“For Etheria,” her voice echoed.

Golden power erupted from the sword and poured into the portal.

The magic of Etheria was released.

Netossa and Spinerella stood at the edge of the Whispering Woods with a group of Bright Moon refugees behind them. All eyes were fixed upwards at a giant, swirling red portal torn through the heavens. Sparkling gold energy poured out of it, filling the skies of Etheria with waves of gold sparkles.

Sea Hawk came running through the trees toward the group, huffing and panting. “You may find this hard to believe, but the sky is on fire!” he cried, pointing upward with a finger.

He stopped as he noticed everyone looking skyward. “Oh.”

“Yeah, we noticed,” Netossa replied, eyes remaining fixed up at incredible sight in the skies.

Gold sparkles began descending softly over their heads. And behind them, the enchanted trees of the Whispering Woods glowed more vibrantly. Sea Hawk and others in the group watched the changing scene around them with awe.

“Snow?” the pirate thought aloud.

Netossa and Spinerella lifted their hands, looking down at the falling sparkles as they landed in their palms.

“It’s not snow,” Spinerella observed. “It’s…magic. Pure magic.” She looked to Netossa beside her in wonder.

“She-Ra…,” Netossa breathed, lifting her gaze to the skies again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to touch on Adora and Entrapta's shared First Ones origins in this chapter. I debated how overtly I wanted to reference Keldor here and eventually braved the appearance of a skull. I hope it was the right symbolic choice to link Entrapta to him.
> 
> The other thing I wanted to get across in this chapter was Entrapta's morally ambiguous nature and her isolation. She's been in a lot of mental pain with everything that's happened and this was an opportunity to provide further insight into her mental state.
> 
> Having a moment of connection between Adora and Entrapta here was important too. Something about the show's final season that has bugged me is Entrapta's friendship with the princesses, namely how it came across to me as rather one-sided. We saw that Entrapta's reunion with the other princesses was a painful affair and the issue of Entrapta's abandonment never came up as a consideration. Whilst it was compelling that we got insight into Entrapta's difficulties with people and her troubled relationship with the other princesses, it felt like something was lacking from the princesses' side. Even though they finally accepted her after she successfully helped them and convinced them of her sincerity, Entrapta was still an outsider amongst them. There was never any real attempt from the princesses to understand and relate to Entrapta or to build meanigful connections with her, even with Adora and Bow who rescued her from Beast Island. And by the end of the show, I was left questioning how genuine Entrapta's friendship with the princesses was. Whilst she was making a great effort to help them, they seemed to be merely tolerating her presence.
> 
> Next chapter, things become dire on the Horde flagship!
> 
> Bear with me as I churn out these chapters, readers!


	26. Where We Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak comes to important realisations about his life as he battles Horde Prime. And when the portal becomes dangerous, She-Ra is forced to accept the unacceptable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really happy to see that the last chapter was well-received. One of the aims of this story has been to delve more deeply into Entrapta's charater and work towards developing her as a more complex character, so I'm pleased to see that my version of her has been of interest to many of you.
> 
> It's been gratifying to see the amount of interest this fic has garnered through hits, bookmarks, kudos and comments. I know you probably hear fanfic writers say this a lot, but knowing that people are reading and enjoying your writing really does motivate you not just to write more, but to write better. So a big thank you to all of you who have made you appreciation known!
> 
> And now on with the show!
> 
> **Warning** : Mild graphic violence with mentions of blood.

Hordak stood paralysed. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides. The armour had been torn from his arms. The Horde emblem of his white uniform had been slashed down his chest. The white and dark blue vein-like scars of his defective body lay bared for all to see. His head and ears lowered in humiliation and shame.

His clone brothers surrounded him, their cannons raised. Horde Prime approached, glaring at him, green eyes cold and without mercy. Prime’s upper and lower right eyes remained shut, injured from his initial attack. He came to stand before him.

“ **Pathetic, worthless, defective!** ” the Horde emperor sneered. “ **There will be no salvation for your sins, Little Brother!** ”

He raised a hand to Hordak’s head, then, with the back of hand, flung it across his face, brutally striking his little brother. Hordak was sent skidding across the floor, head first. He slid to a stop on his side. Slowly, he rolled himself onto his front and dragged his arms beneath himself. Painfully, he began to push himself up on a forearm and hand, grunting with the effort.

Prime turned and began to move toward Hordak again. His four neck cables disconnected from the ports on his chest and rose around his head. He eyed the back of his little brother with visceral disgust.

“ **Your impurities must be purged!** ” he declared viciously.

There was a loud cry as Catra, out of nowhere, leapt onto the Horde emperor’s back. With one hand, she clawed into his upper back. Her other hand struck at his head, her claws scratching the side of his face, exposing bright green blood. Prime let out a furious roar. Swinging his powerful arms up, he reached behind himself and grabbed a struggling Catra. He pried her off and threw her to the floor. There was a sickening crack as her body struck the floor. She landed next to a stunned Hordak who had pushed himself up onto all fours. He watched his former Force Captain with wide red eyes as she lay battered and bruised beside him, groaning in pain.

An image of her, young, wide-eyed, shaking with fear when Shadow Weaver had first brought her before him to be punished, flashed across his mind. He recalled how driven she had been to defeat Adora and the Rebellion, just as he had been desperate to face Entrapta on the battlefield. For a moment, he felt his anger at her subside.

Punished for failure, for being inadequate. Intent on proving their value and worth to the ones they had felt betrayed by. They had been the same, he realised coldly.

Prime clutched at his injured face, growling at the sight of the green blood on his hand from Catra’s scratches. As he nursed his wounds, Hordak slowly rose to his feet. The exposure of his defective body was pushed aside as something greater surged within him, something that had been suppressed and was now breaking free. His red gaze lifted and swept over his brothers around him, the extensions of Horde Prime as he had been, all alike in their lack of expression, all unquestioning in their loyalty to their emperor, knowing nothing more than fulfilling the will of their god, knowing nothing of true love and compassion.

The gates within him flung wide open and it all flooded out in a moment of terrible clarity.

None of them had ever known anything other than what their ‘benevolent Brother’ had programmed them to know. They had never had a choice or their own wills. They had never been allowed to question Prime’s will and his assessment of their worth. They had never even known they could.

Hordak felt a fire rising within him. Prime had deceived them, totally controlled their minds, cruelly used him and all their brothers. They had all never been anything more than puppets of a delusional tyrant god, created for no other purpose than to be his workforce and supply of blood and bodies.

The realisation struck him like a meteorite. Horde Prime had been the source of all his suffering, and by extension, the cause of Etheria’s suffering through the Horde he had created there in his name, to serve his glory and will, to prove to his god-brother that he was still worthy.

What a fool he had been. It had been a vain belief to think that Horde Prime would ever acknowledge his worth. He had never had any true worth beyond his functional usefulness to begin with in his big brother’s eyes. None of their brothers did. Parts of the whole, that was all they had been: just parts, never whole. It was Entrapta that had shown him what it meant to be of true worth to another being, what it meant to truly value another.

Hordak’s hands curled into fists as the unbridled truth seared into his consciousness. Words burst from his mouth to his surrounding brothers:

“Brothers, Horde Prime has lied to us! He is not all-powerful! He does not love us as true brothers would! We have been slaves to his will, resources to be used and discarded, our very minds his to invade! I implore you to accept the truth: that Horde Prime is a false god!”

The clone brothers did not move, but fear and uncertainty crept into their faces. Their eyes and ears fell and some of them began to lower their weapons.

“ **BLASPHEMY! LIES!** ” Horde Prime’s infuriated voice boomed. He raised his silver-capped finger at Hordak and Catra. “ **Dispose of the traitors!** ”

Before anyone could react, a thunderous sound vibrated through the hall. The eyes of Horde Prime, Hordak and Catra were drawn upwards toward the alloy cross. Clones and rebels alike stopped to look up at it too. In front of the cross, the red portal had expanded in size.

Angella and Micah, Shadow Weaver and Castaspella, Glimmer and Bow, Scorpia and Pefuma, Mermista and Frosta, and Swift Wind and Double Trouble. They all stared up at the steadily growing portal with wide, fearful eyes. Angella and Micha clung to one another. Scorpia held Perfuma’s hand in her pincers.

As Glimmer was held by Bow, she whispered: “No…”

She-Ra watched in alarm as the portal grew before her. The power of Etheria was surging from her sword into the widening red vortex.

“What’s happening?” she asked aloud.

Entrapta’s strained voice came from behind her: “The portal…it’s absorbing too much power.”

She-Ra squeezed her eyes shut. With a mighty heave, she drew her sword back, cutting off the flow of power. She was suspended in the air by her magic and turned to look back at Entrapta behind her.

The Princess of Dryl was still bound to the alloy cross by vine-like metallic tendrils. Her lilac and cerise pigtails were fanned out from the sides of her head like great wings, the strands extended by the alloy into cables that reached the portal generator. Around her small body, the alloy tendrils moved, crawling slowly up her limbs and torso. The red aura emanating from her had grown in intensity.

Her magenta eyes opened.

“It’s expanding exponentially,” Entrapta said weakly. “I can’t stop it. There’s a high probability…it’ll consume this entire mothership and the Horde army.”

She-Ra’s ice blue eyes widened. “What?”

The red glow of the Chaos Crystal grew brighter on Entrapta’s forehead. Her brow furrowed and her eyes shut then opened again, as if struggling internally with something. The metallic tendrils continued to slide further up her body.

“This Horde mothership will be pulled into Etheria,” she explained unsteadily. “It would result in seismic damage, potentially destroying the planet…unless…I can re-direct the portal elsewhere.”

Concern crept into She-Ra’s expression. “Re-direct to where?” she asked nervously.

“Somewhere…where no other planets exist,” Entrapta said in a low voice, “where no harm can be done…” She paused. “Despondos.”

She-Ra’s eyes grew large. “Despondos?” she repeated.

“You need to leave now, Adora,” Entrapta stated calmly. “Get everyone out.”

“Not without you!” She-Ra responded immediately. “I’m not leaving you behind again!” As she reached for Entrapta with a hand, her fingers suddenly crackled against a barrier of red energy. She-Ra pulled her hand back in surprise, then looked at Entrapta in dismay. Entrapta’s runestone’s energy was surrounding her.

Entrapta’s eyes sunk sadly. “I’m slowing the growth of the portal,” she informed calmly. “I can’t leave.”

She-Ra felt her breathing hasten. She shook her head. “Entrapta…”

A lilac strand of Entrapta’s hair rose up and laid upon She-Ra’s shoulder. Her voice was gentle: “I made a mess of things again. I have to fix it.”

Tears emerged from the corners of She-Ra’s eyes. “No…I can’t leave you...not again…,” she protested weakly.

A small smile formed on Entrapta’s lips. “It’s okay, Adora. This time…I’m asking you to.”

The silvery white alloy tendrils had encompassed Entrapta’s entire body now. They were spreading over her skin, enveloping her in a layer of smooth liquid metal. The liquid metal was sliding over her chest and neck, reaching for her face.

“Entrapta!” She-Ra exclaimed.

Entrapta’s lilac hair strand moved from She-Ra’s shoulder to gently touch her cheek, making the warrior princess look into her face again.

Entrapta was smiling. “Thank you for coming for me on Beast Island and now,” she said sincerely, “and for letting me re-join the princesses, even after I was with the Horde.”

She shut her eyes. “I’m not like the other princesses though. And I can’t pretend that I am.” She exhaled. “I’m not really one of you. The truth is: I’ve never really belonged with the princesses.”

On her forehead, the Chaos Crystal burned a vibrant red. The head and arms of the alloy cross that she hung from curled inward toward her small body. The shape of a large globe began to form from the alloy around her.

Entrapta’s eyes opened again. To She-Ra’s shock, her irises and pupils had disappeared. Her eyes had turned a solid magenta and were glowing now.

Retracting her lilac hair strand from She-Ra’s cheek, Entrapta softly declared: “I think it’s time for me to leave now, to do what I have to do.”

The alloy layer had covered Entrapta’s whole body now, cocooning her in metallic skin. Alloy tendrils slid over her face, and around her, the metallic walls of the alloy globe curled in.

“I’m so glad to know that we were friends…that we **are** friends.” Entrapta’s smile was soft and genuine. “And I’m happy to be able to save my friends now.”

Her glowing magenta eyes closed. “Goodbye, Adora.”

The Chaos Crystal blazed like a red star on Entrapta’s forehead as the alloy wall of the globe closed over her, shutting She-Ra out. She-Ra pressed her hands against it, crying out in desperation:

“ **ENTRAPTAAA!** ”

Horde Prime, Hordak and Catra, along with several clones, watched with large eyes as the portal continued to grow in size, reaching up into the dark expanse of the hall’s ceiling. Its centre darkened, becoming black as starless Space.

They had seen the alloy cross in front of the portal reform itself into a large metal globe that stood on a pillar. It had encapsulated Entrapta and sealed her off from view.

Prime’s lips twisted into a snarl and his hands clenched into fists. His arms shook. A terrifying roar of rage burst from his distorted mouth.

“ **I HAVE BEEN DENIED THE POWER OF ETHERIA!** ” he bellowed.

He turned furiously toward one of his armed clones who shrank back slightly from his approaching emperor. Prime snatched the clone’s cannon, tearing it off his arm and reattaching it onto his own with a snap.

“ **The half-breed princess has outlived her usefulness!** ” the Horde emperor snarled as he aimed the canon up at the metal globe.

The cannon lit up with lines of green energy as Prime charged it, preparing to fire.

“ **If she cannot be controlled, then she must be eliminated!** ” he proclaimed darkly.

As green energy formed in the barrel of the canon, Hordak slammed into Prime, knocking him off-balance and sending his blast tearing into the dark ceiling. Metal debris came crashing down. Clones scattered.

The canon skidded across the floor as Prime and Hordak wrestled for control, hands locked in combat. Sharp teeth were bared and green and red eyes blazed as they fought.

“ **You will not harm her!** ” Hordak snarled.

Prime’s claws dug into Hordak’s scarred arms, piercing his discoloured flesh and causing dark red blood to bleed out. The former warlord’s legs began to buckle as Prime overpowered him.

“ **You are a blight on my perfection, Little Brother!** ” Prime sneered into Hordak’s face. “ **A mockery of my image! You should have perished long ago!** ”

Hordak’s knee hit the floor as Prime pressed down on him.

“ **Only a defect would choose the corrupted affections of a broken creature over the purity of his god’s divine light!** ” Prime spat in disgust.

Hordak was forced to the ground with a grunt as Prime’s foot suddenly pressed down on his chest. From his hip pocket, Entrapta’s First Ones crystal clattered out onto the floor, near to the alloy pool. He reached desperately for it, but cried out in pain as Prime’s shoe ground into his exposed chest.

Pinned under Prime’s foot, Hordak looked up with wide red eyes as the god-like form of his big brother bore down on him, four spiked cables rising to the sides of his head like serpents.

She-Ra’s hands slammed against the wall of the alloy globe again. “ENTRAPTA!” she cried.

The metallic globe that had swallowed the Princess of Dryl began to radiate red energy that increased in intensity. She-Ra backed away, shielding her eyes as the alloy’s red aura grew brighter.

Then the red light exploded. A wave of red energy erupted from the globe, knocking She-Ra backwards. She descended, her golden aura diminishing, and crashed onto the floor beside the alloy pool.

Slowly, she pushed herself up on her arms, trying to shake off the impact of her crash landing. She gazed up unsteadily at the red-glowing alloy globe. It stood high above her, suspended atop a long pillar that had been the leg of the metallic cross. The extended cables formed from Entrapta’s hair were still connected to the spires of the portal generator, tying the alloy globe to the portal machine. From between the spires of the generator, the giant red portal was expanding uncontrollably. Its centre had turned black as night. Rapid air currents swirled as the force of the portal’s gravitational pull increased. Storm-like winds blew through the hall.

The burst of Entrapta’s red runestone energy had pushed her away from the growing portal, She-Ra realised numbly.

Entrapta was out of reach now, contained within the shell of her alloy globe.

Sitting up, She-Ra’s long golden hair lifted in the rising winds. Her hands clenched into fists upon the floor. She closed her eyes and lowered her head sombrely.

She could not save Entrapta. She did not want to be saved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hordak's final choice to rebel against Horde Prime was a dramatic, last second act made when he was forced to choose between obeying his brother or saving his 'friend'. This was arguably a more instinctual and emotional decision than a conscious one. For up until then, it seemed Hordak had simply been acceping Prime's conditioning and control. His desire to rid himself of his emotions and feelings was a conscious decision to 'purify' himself. And because he was preoccupied with ridding himself of his 'imperfections', he never had much chance to consider how much Prime's influence had affected him and all his brothers and, by extension, Etheria. Had he, I imagine he'd have reached conclusions more severe than Wrong Hordak about Prime's trustworthiness and 'love' for his brothers, given his years of suffering on Etheria too. This was something that I felt was missing from his eventual decision to turn against Prime and could have made his act of defiance more significant and meaningful.
> 
> Next chapter, the final battle concludes.


	27. Parting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle reaches a conclusion, but the portal threatens to consume everything, and our heroes must decide whether to flee or face their end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update again, folks. Real life matters have been taking precedence lately, but I'm still chipping away at finishing this fic. I intend to reach the 30 chapter mark. Hard to believe that I've written 27 chapters now.
> 
> A big thank you for your interest, patience and support, readers. I'm grateful to new readers and all my loyal followers. Your kudos and comments are my food!

Above him, the portal swelled like a red moon with a dark centre, crackling with energy, its gravitational pull giving rise to untamed currents. The alloy globe, a large, gleaming pearl in the eye of the storm, rose from the pool before the portal, connected by long lines of cables to the generator spires. She was inside that metal globe, the princess he was fighting for.

Hordak reached desperately across the floor for her crystal, the First Ones-engraved fuchsia gem. It was just beyond the reach of his outstretched fingers. He could almost touch it.

Then an all-encompassing hand descended upon his neck, wrapping around it, and Hordak felt himself being dragged up. At last, his fingers touched Entrapta’s crystal, snatching it just as he was hauled into the air by the neck. The grip around his throat was tight, compressing. Hordak struggled for breath as he found himself staring down into the acidic green eyes of Horde Prime.

Prime’s perfect white hair was ruffled by his exertions. Small strands flew loose from his updo in the rising air currents. His lips were twisted into an ugly snarl as he glared up at Hordak hanging from his iron grip with manic green eyes. At the sides of his head, his four neck cables rose.

“ **There will be no mercy or comfort for you, most unworthy and unloved among my brothers!** ” the Horde emperor proclaimed.

His neck cables drew back, preparing to strike.

Hordak’s red eyes widened.

The memory of Prime’s purifying light surged through his mind.

His hand tightened around Entrapta’s crystal.

Then instinctively, Hordak’s hands came up as Prime’s neck cables shot toward him. He caught them mid-strike, his hands crushing the silver tubes together in a vice-like grip. Prime’s green eyes widened. With an explosive cry, Hordak tore the cables from the back of Prime’s neck. Green chemicals spewed out from the disconnected ends of the tubes. An anguished scream escaped from the Horde emperor. His hand around Hordak’s neck loosened as Prime fell forward onto all fours, bleeding green chemicals from the back of his neck.

Hordak gasped as he was dropped. The torn cables fell from his grasp, the green chemical contents leaking out onto the white floor. He clutched at his neck, trying to regain control of his breath. On shaky arms, he began to push himself up again. Before him, Prime was clutching the back of his green-stained neck, yelling furiously in pain.

Suddenly, Entrapta’s crystal grew warm in Hordak’s grasp. He stared down at it to see that it was softly glowing. Then the sound of the alloy pool moving near him caused him to look at it. The liquid metal stirred restlessly in the pool. A thin stream of it rose over the edge and crawled along the floor toward him. He gazed down at the glowing fuchsia crystal in his hand again. The Krytian liquid alloy was being drawn toward the crystal’s energy, he realised.

With effort, Hordak rose to his feet. In his hand, Entrapta’s crystal glowed vibrantly. The thin stream of liquid alloy from the pool reached up from the floor toward his vein-scarred arm holding the crystal. It spread over his patterned skin, slowly engulfing his lower arm in a layer of smooth metal.

He began walking toward Prime who was hissing in pain, still clutching the back of his bleeding neck.

“I am **not** your brother,” Hordak declared.

The alloy layer grew in size, becoming a metallic mass taking shape around his arm.

“You made me in your image, but I am **more** than that.”

The alloy mass swallowed his hand. The vibrant crystal flowed from his grasp to the top of the mass as it moulded itself into a long, curved barrel.

“I gave myself a **name** , I made a life of my **own** , I found…” His red eyes drifted up toward the metal globe. “ **a partner, a friend** …”

He came to a stop before Prime and, reaching down, took hold of the bottom of his face, gripping his green-stained chin. With one arm, he hoisted the emperor up into the air above him, facing in the direction of the portal. His red eyes hardened, burning brighter.

“I was **worthy**! I was **loved** …by **her**!” he asserted up at his god.

The alloy mass solidified into a weapon around his arm. The body of a sleek cannon with a long barrel emerged, alight with lines of fuchsia-coloured energy which ran up to the top of the cannon where the First Ones crystal was embedded.

“I am **flawed**! I am with **sin**!” he declared, voice rising. “And I **embrace** my **imperfections**!”

He brought his arm-mounted canon to Prime’s chest. Fuchsia energy glowed bright within its barrel.

His voice rose to a cry: “I AM **HORDAK**! AND I **DEFY** YOUR WILL!”

Fuchsia energy spilled from the canon onto Prime’s chest. He screamed as the force of the fuchsia blast sent him hurtling upwards toward the portal. His scream echoed as he plunged into the swirling red vortex, its dark heart swallowing him completely.

She-Ra was on her feet, running toward Catra when an ungodly scream rang out. Her eyes snapped up to the sight of a ray of fuchsia energy streaking upwards, catapulting a screaming Horde Prime toward the portal. His scream was abruptly cut off as he plunged into the red vortex, passing through its dark centre. Hordak stood frozen, wide red eyes fixated on the spot where his emperor had disappeared into the portal. Then, suddenly, he collapsed to his knees, his arm-mounted canon dropping heavily at his side with a clang. Catra slowly began to push herself to her feet a short distance behind him, watching him with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Around the hall, clones fell to their knees as well in shock and despair, staring up at the portal where their emperor had vanished. A resonant thunder vibrated as the portal passed through the dark ceiling and floor of the hall. Bolts of red energy crackled from its edges. Air was being sucked into it, destabilising the atmosphere of the hall.

She-Ra reached Catra’s side, helping her stand up. As she did so, her body flashed with golden light as it shrank in size and she magically reverted back into Adora. Catra looked to her wordlessly. Adora held onto her arm tighter.

The princesses and rebels were gathering from around the hall, running toward Adora and Catra’s position. Adora turned her attention to Hordak. Catra followed her in watching him cautiously.

The former warlord’s back was turned to them as he stared up at the giant portal, still on his knees. Through his torn white uniform and broken armour, the old scars of his defective body were visible: veins of dark blue and white spreading over the restored muscles of his back and arms. Rambled words emerged from his mouth:

“I turned against my brother…I turned against my brother...”

Imp appeared from above, gliding down to land beside Hordak. The little winged clone child reached up and cautiously patted his master’s scarred arm as he looked up at him searchingly.

Collecting around Adora and Catra now were Glimmer, Bow, Angella, Micah, Swift Wind, Double Trouble, Memista, Frosta, Scorpia, Perfuma, Castaspella and Shadow Weaver. The gathered princesses and rebels stood wordlessly as they watched Adora and Catra approaching Hordak’s kneeling form.

“Hordak, the portal’s going to consume this entire ship. It’s locked on to Despondos,” Adora stated seriously. “We need to get out of here. Come with us.”

There was no immediate reaction from Hordak. He did not look at them, his face remaining fixed up at the portal. His hand opened at Imp’s touch and the little winged clone child clambered familiarly up his arm and settled upon his master’s shoulder.

Hordak’s head lowered and he spoke in a low voice: “Now I understand…why you left the Horde, Adora.”

Hearing him speak her name made Adora pause.

“Everything about the Horde was a lie,” he uttered bitterly, “a lie crafted to fulfil the wishes of an undying being that held himself above others.”

His hand clenched into a fist at his side. “Horde Prime is gone...by my hand. My purpose for existing is gone.”

“Hordak…” Adora began to speak.

Hordak continued as if she had said nothing. “I could not fathom the world and the people outside of the Horde. Stranded alone on Etheria, I was desperate to return to my emperor’s side, to his light.”

His head lifted. “I was defective, but I refused to simply die. I believed I could prove my worth to him if I could conquer your world.”

He turned his head, finally bringing his red gaze upon Adora and Catra and the princesses and rebels behind them. “It was a mistake. I could never have changed Prime’s judgement of me, for autonomy, thinking differently, was a sin in his eyes. My time on Etheria changed me. I had defied Prime’s will simply by developing sentience, having my own thoughts and wishes.”

His red gaze fell to the top of his cannon where Entrapta’s First Ones crystal glowed gently.

“For the first time, I began to feel things that Prime had never intended for his clones, forbidden feelings...”

He brought his hand up to the glowing crystal, touching it with a clawed finger.

“I met someone who made me wish…that Prime would never come for me.”

His eyes shut.

“I could not have remained faithful to him, for I have been corrupted. I have sinned.”

His eyes opened again, connecting with Adora’s.

“Just as you betrayed the Horde on Etheria, I have betrayed my god.”

His eyes seemed to soften as he regarded Adora. His voice became barely audible:

“You were lost, an alien stranded on a strange world, as I was.”

Adora’s eyes widened.

She saw Light Hope’s images again: Hordak approaching the portal that had brought her to Etheria.

Aliens stranded on a strange world.

They had been the same.

“You saved me,” she uttered.

They watched one another, neither saying a word. Then Hordak rose to his feet, dragging his arm-mounted cannon up at his side. The vibrant red light of the portal silhouetted his form from behind.

His red gaze moved to Imp perched on his shoulder. “You have served your master well, little spy,” he said quietly. He glanced at Adora and Catra then back to Imp. “Go with them. You are free.”

Imp hesitated, his small yellow eyes staring uncertainly at his master. A long moment passed, then he spread his small wings and sprung off his shoulder, gliding over to Adora’s arm. Adora looked at the small winged child than back at Hordak in surprise. Hordak’s gaze shifted from her and Catra and passed over the other princesses and rebels around them. His eyes paused on Glimmer who looked back at him with soft, sympathetic eyes, hand curled at her chest. Her mouth was open, as if wanting to say something to him.

Then Hordak looked away. “Leave me. All of you.”

“Hordak-” Adora began to protest.

Suddenly, Hordak hefted up his cannon and directed it at a stunned Adora and Catra. They, along with the princesses and rebels, stepped back in surprise.

“ **LEAVE!** ” he commanded.

A tense moment passed as Hordak held Adora, Catra and the princesses and rebels at cannon-point. Then Adora felt Catra’s hand on her shoulder.

“Adora,” Catra said in a low voice, “let’s go.”

Adora’s eyes remained on him, tears pricking at the corners of her vision, before turning reluctantly and allowing Catra to lead her away. Imp gave his master a final glance before jumping off Adora’s arm and taking to the air. The princesses and rebels turned to leave as well. Angella and Micah began to move, but stopped when they saw Glimmer lingering behind, watching Hordak sadly, unphased by his raised cannon at her.

“I forgive you…for everything,” she said quietly to him. “And thank you.”

The fine lines of Hordak’s eyebrows rose. His face slackened. His cannon lowered a fraction.

The smallest of smiles graced Glimmer’s lips, then she turned and ran to join her waiting parents.

Hordak’s cannon arm dropped to his side as he watched the Etherian rebels he had once called enemies leave. Then he turned toward the portal, lifting his gaze to the gleaming alloy globe that stood before it. He began to walk toward the globe. As he did, the alloy canon around his arm began to unravel, disintegrating into liquid that ran down his bare arm in rivulets. The First Ones-inscribed crystal was left behind in his grasp. It pulsed and glowed brighter with fuchsia light as he neared the alloy pool that the globe rose from. He lifted his arm up, holding the glowing crystal to the globe like an offering. His thin lips parted and he breathed out a single word of reverence:

“Entrapta…”

As if responding to his call and presence, the globe began to descend, its supporting pillar melting back into the alloy pool beneath it. The long cables that stretched from it to the spires of the portal generator fell down. Hordak stared up at the sinking globe as he approached it, reaching for it with the fuchsia crystal that now glowed vibrantly in his palm.

The princesses and rebels headed for the hall entrance, running past paralysed, distraught clones along the way. Imp followed them from above.

As she ran with her family, Angella glanced back at the descending globe as it sunk into the alloy pool. In her chest, her heart sank too as she recalled holding her first baby in her arms, gazing down happily at the beautiful baby girl with magenta eyes and lilac hair, Keldor at her side…

She brought her head forward again quickly, bringing her focus back to her present family. The past was pushed away.

As she reached the entrance, Catra paused to look back at the alloy pool as well. The metal globe was collapsing as it dispersed into the pool’s metallic fluid. Hordak’s tall figure waded into the pool, pushing through the fluids toward the disintegrating globe. With a hand that glowed bright with fuchsia light, he reached for the globe with an outstretched arm.

The memory of Hordak sitting on his throne with Entrapta perched intimately on his armrest entered Catra’s mind. She saw again how he had leaned forward, gazing at Entrapta intently as she spoke, listening to her so attentively. She remembered how angry, how envious, how jealous she had been of seeing them together like that, of how close they had been to one another, how Hordak had trusted Entrapta above anyone else, how they had bonded.

The things she and Adora had once shared.

Like lightning, Entrapta’s words returned to her: _“Why did you send me away?”_

Her eyes squeezed shut.

Hordak had trusted Entrapta

as she had once trusted Adora,

only for Adora to leave her,

_betray_ her.

And so, Entrapta had to leave Hordak too,

_betray_ him,

because she could not have stood to see _them_ together

when _she_ was alone.

Beads of tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“Catra…”

Adora’s voice pulled her attention back to the present. She whipped round to see her childhood companion stood before her, the friend she had grown up with, the one she had thought would stay with her forever.

Adora gazed at her with warm, inviting blue eyes. Her hand extended out for her, palm open.

“C’mon, Catra,” she said smiling. “We can go home now…together.”

Catra looked down at Adora’s extended hand, a warmth filling her cheeks. Slowly, she reached for it, tentatively placing her hand into hers. Adora’s hand closed around hers and pulled her away.

Together they ran, hand in hand,

two young girls running through the halls of the Fright Zone again.

And for a moment, nothing had changed,

they had never been apart,

they had never hurt one another.

Catra could almost forget the fighting and the pain,

how she had needed Adora,

how she had _wanted_ her,

how _lonely_ she had been without her.

Almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things won't end in the same way as canon is all I'll say.
> 
> There are a few possible reasons for why Catra was annoyed by Entrapta and Hordak's relationship in its early stages. She was jealous, but I theorise that there was a deeper reason for it than simply being usurped by Entrapta as Hordak's most trusted ally. I think their evident bond was a painful reminder of her and Adora's former bond too, and so seeing them so close together irked and bothered Catra.
> 
> The L.U.V.D. crystal here is multifunctional: it serves as a power source and a memory storage device. Since it first functioned as a power source for Hordak's armour, I thought it'd be neat if it became a power source for a new weapon for him as well triggering the return of his memories.
> 
> Next chapter, will anyone survive the portal?


	28. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The portal is slowly consuming the Horde mothership and it's race against time for the escaping rebels. Not all will make it out though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates have been slower and I thank you readers for your patience. I've been trying to fit in my writing where I can and I've actually had another post-season 5 fic idea that I've been laying down the bare bones for. That'll hopefully be coming up, but I'm aiming to get through another two chapters of this fic before then. So, I'm still churning out work!
> 
> Things are coming to a dramatic conclusion now. I advise readers to have a box of tissues at the ready for this chapter.
> 
> Please remember to be good to yourselves. And if you feel things after reading, I'd love to know in your treasured comments! Thank you again to my previous commenters and kudos-leavers. I've greatly appreciated all my regular and new readers!

The running feet of the princesses and rebels followed Catra as she sprinted down a white corridor. Above them flew Imp.

“We’re nearly there!” she announced looking ahead.

The escapees were pursued by fault lines of red light running along the corridor walls. Tremors passed beneath their feet and the Horde mothership shook around them. Their running slowed to a crawl before they came to a halt. Struggling to remain standing, some fell against the walls, others dropped to the floor, grunting with exertion. Imp dropped from the air as well, landing heavily on the floor.

“I feel as heavy as a whale right now!” Mermista complained loudly, leaning forward on her knees. “Is it just me, or is it, like, getting harder to move?”

“I can’t move my legs! I’m stuck to the floor!” Perfuma cried in panic from her sitting position.

“What’s happening?” Frosta, down on all fours, shouted.

“I think the gravity is increasing!” Bow cried as he tried in vain to pull Glimmer up from the floor. “We’re being pulled down!”

Shadow Weaver was holding herself up against a wall, watching the cracks of red light that were branching over it.

“The portal’s power grows stronger,” she informed gravely. “I can feel it. It’s consuming the mothership. We are running out of time.”

The red sorceress pushed herself off the wall and brought both her hands up to face-level. They began to glow red as dark magic manifested in her palms.

Micah had his back pressed to a wall near her. He looked up at her with wide eyes. “Shadow Weaver, what are you doing?” he demanded.

Her form was encompassed by dark flames. Her long black hair rose with the burning currents of dark magic emanating from her. Dark energy poured from her hands onto the floor and walls, spreading to fill the entire corridor like a black sheet. The red fault lines were swallowed by the dark sheet of magic as it passed over the walls.

“I am the most capable out of us of manipulating power,” Shadow Weaver stated calmly as dark magic radiated from her hands and body. “I can draw on the portal’s energy and hold off its advance.”

“No, you can’t!” Micah protested, reaching out to her. “It’s too much, even for you!”

“You were the only one who trusted me at Mystacor, Micah,” the red sorceress said quietly. “If only things had worked out differently that day…”

She turned her masked face to him, watching him with heavy white eyes. Micah stared back at her, speechless.

“I would have liked to have taught you more,” she sighed. “You were my finest student. Your daughter is so much like you. She has so much magical potential.” Her gaze fell upon a stunned Glimmer briefly, then moved back to Micah. “Train her well. Make her powerful as I helped to make you.”

“Shadow Weaver…”

The sorceress turned at the sound of Adora’s voice. Adora was stood with Catra before her, holding on to one another’s arms as they watched her with wide eyes. Shadow Weaver looked back at them with something akin to warmth.

“You’ve become so strong,” she said softly. “If nothing else, at least remember my role in that.”

Catra was not sure if she was speaking to both of them, or just Adora.

Then Shadow Weaver raised her hands higher and a wall of dark magic rose in front of her.

“ **Go now!** ” she shouted. “ **Run!** ”

Adora and Catra watched in horror as Shadow Weaver disappeared behind the rising barrier of dark magic.

“ **No!** ” they cried together.

“ **Light Spinner!** ” Micah cried simultaneously.

Micah, Adora and Catra watched in paralysed disbelief as the sorceress that had been their mentor and mother was separated from them by the wall of dark magic. Tears streamed down Adora’s and Catra’s faces. Micah squeezed his eyes shut as his own tears threatened to burst out. Angella immediately was beside him, holding him in her arms. Around them, the princesses and rebels watched in wordless shock. They began to stand as a wave of dark magic passed through the walls and floor, blanketing the cracks of red light. With a screech, Imp spread his small wings and took to the air again.

“She’s draining the portal’s energy!” Castaspella said in amazement. “We can move again!”

“My love,” Angella gently prompted at Micah, “we must go.”

Micah turned away from the dark wall of magic and nodded stiffly. “You’re right. We must not waste her sacrifice.” He looked to Catra.

Catra turned away momentarily, wiping the tears from her face with an arm, then she looked back at Micah with a hardened expression. “Alright, let’s move,” she said flatly.

She dashed off down the corridor and the princesses and rebels scrambled after her. They were led out of the corridor and across an intersection into another corridor, and as they neared the end of the second corridor, a docking bay full of spaceships came into view.

“We’re here,” Catra declared as they entered the bay.

Quickly locating Mara’s ancient ship, Adora pointed to it. “There’s our ship!” she exclaimed.

“Get everyone on board,” Catra instructed. “I’ll get the bay doors open.”

The feline woman split away from the group and agilely made her way over to a raised control station. Adora led the princesses and rebels to the ancient First Ones ship, and as they approached it, a boarding ramp lowered from the underside of the ship. Adora ushered her friends and allies on board and Imp followed above them.

At the control station, a red alert sign flashed on a screen beneath Catra. A grave expression appeared on her face and her hands fisted. Turning away, she jumped off the control station and headed back to the ancient First Ones ship.

Adora was waiting for her at the top of the boarding ramp. Glimmer and Bow were standing behind her inside the ship. She looked up eagerly when she saw Catra approaching. The feline woman ascended the ramp toward her, but then stopped at the threshold of the ship’s entrance. Her gaze was on the floor and her hands were fisted at her sides. Adora stared down at her in confusion. She held her hand out to her.

“Catra, c’mon,” Adora prompted. “Let’s go.”

Catra’s blue and yellow eyes rose to her face. “The controls for the bay doors are locked,” she informed tonelessly. “I’ll need to go to the emergency controls to open them.”

Adora’s brow furrowed. “Okay, I’ll wait until you get back.”

Catra’s eyes shifted away. “Don’t bother. I’ll have to stay at the emergency controls to keep the doors open for you.”

Adora froze. “What?” she asked hesitantly. “Catra, what are you saying?”

Catra’s eyes returned to hers. “I’m saying…this is where I get off.”

Adora’s face plummeted. Her mouth fell open. “No, Catra, no!” she immediately protested.

A gentle smile crept onto Catra’s lips. “Horde Prime is gone. The Rebellion survives. And I’m about to do one good thing for you.” Her eyes softened. “Looks like you win, Adora.”

Adora began to shake her head. “I…I didn’t want-”

“No, neither of us wanted any of this,” Catra quietly interrupted. “But we made our choices, didn’t we? You left the Horde and became a hero for Etheria. I stayed and became your enemy.”

Her blue and yellow eyes fell. “We can’t change our choices, only try to make better ones. So, that’s what I’m doing now.”

She turned her head to the side, shutting her eyes. “I thought if I was strong, if I had power, if I proved everyone who ever doubted me wrong, I’d be happy.”

She inhaled and opened her eyes. “But I wasn’t. I wasn’t happy…because I didn’t have what I really wanted.”

She looked back at Adora again. Then, to Adora’s shock, her hand came up to her face, cupping her cheek. Her voice was uncharacteristically soft:

“I was never satisfied, even when I made it right to the top.”

She let out a dry laugh. “I literally had Hordak at my feet and was running the Horde! I thought that if I could just conquer all of Etheria, I wouldn’t need anyone anymore!”

She smiled weakly as her voice quietened:

“Because when you came out of the portal and looked at me, I knew things could never go back to how they were between us. I knew I’d lost the only person I cared about. You’d left me, hurt me…rejected me.”

Her eyes became wet.

“You didn’t want me anymore…not like how I wanted you.”

Adora’s eyes grew wide. Her breath seized in her chest. “Catra?”

Catra’s hand slid slowly off her cheek and found her hand below, holding it.

“It would’ve been nice to go home with you, Adora.” A tear escaped Catra’s eye and streaked down her cheek. “Build a new life away from the Horde…”

She smiled sadly.

“But let’s face it, a happy ending would never work for me. I’ve done terrible things, and the pain will always be there.”

She let go of Adora’s hand and reached up for her headpiece, removing it.

“Do something for me.” Her voice was hushed, for Adora’s ears only. “I want you to always ask yourself…”

She lowered her headpiece into Adora’s open palms.

“…What do I want?”

Suddenly, Adora’s hand gripped hers, holding it on top of her headpiece. Adora’s eyes were now wet as well. Choked words fell from her mouth:

“I...I want...I want **you** , Catra!”

In the blink of an eye, their faces came together and their lips joined. It was a kiss full of need, each savouring the warmth and tenderness of the other before Catra pulled away, leaving Adora breathless.

“I love you too, Adora,” Catra whispered, smiling as tears rolled down her cheeks. “See you on the other side…maybe.”

Suddenly, Catra shoved Adora back into the ship. Glimmer and Bow caught her as she fell backwards into them. She began to scream as she saw Catra running back down the ramp:

“ **NO! CATRA, NO! NO!** ”

Glimmer and Bow held her back as she scrambled to run after Catra.

“Adora, no!” they both cried.

“ **CATRAAAA!** ” Adora wailed as the ship’s ramp was raised and the entrance closed.

The engines of the ancient First Ones ship came alive as Catra darted to a small glass room located in a corner of the docking bay. She punched a code into a number pad and a door slid open for her. She dashed into the glass room and the door sealed shut after her. At another set of controls laying before her, she tapped at a series of buttons and looked out the glass wall of the room. She saw the ancient First Ones ship moving toward the entrance of the bay.

In the front windows of the ship, she glimpsed Adora staring back at her, her eyes overflowing with tears and her hand pressed against the window pane. Catra, eyes still wet as well, brought her own hand to the glass wall, mirroring Adora. Then she pushed a button on the panel beneath her and the bay’s door began to rise. The ship drove toward the open entrance, picking up speed.

As the ship accelerated out of the bay, Adora watched powerlessly as Catra’s smiling face disappeared in a blur, replaced by the stars of open Space.

The red moon with a dark heart burned brilliantly over the army of Horde clones scattered throughout the great hall. They knelt in surrender and acceptance, awaiting the fate that loomed large before them. The portal had engulfed half the hall, its power surging across surfaces and technology, bolts of red energy striking out from its edges to reach the furthest corners of the hall and pass through its walls.

Out of the metallic fluids of the alloy pool, Hordak emerged, lifting the small body of Entrapta from the silvery white liquid. In his arms, she lay motionless, one arm hanging limply from her shoulder as he held her to his vein-scarred chest. The reddish pink cerise runestone on her forehead was dim. Her white Horde dress, wet, clung to her inert body. Her long lilac hair streaked with cerise hung loose as it dragged through the silvery white fluids. Her appearance had changed. The liquid alloy had merged with her flesh, coating her skin in a smooth, silvery white layer. She had fused with the Krytian alloy.

Hordak held her carefully as he carried her out of the pool. Then he dropped to his knees like his surrounding clone brothers, keeping her cradled against him. He gazed down tenderly at her. Her eyes were shut, her lips unmoving. He took in the metallic sheen of her skin. Bringing a dull blue hand to her silvery face, he gently swept aside damp strands of her hair with a clawed finger. In his palm, he still held her First Ones crystal.

“Entrapta…,” he breathed as he leaned over her, his face hovering over hers, “my partner…my dearest friend...my princess...”

He lifted a rope of her lilac and cerise hair to his face with the hand that held her First Ones crystal, pressing it to his cheek.

“I rebelled against my brother…for you.”

He lowered his nasal ridge to her smooth metallic cheek and nudged it gently. Her gleaming, silvery white flesh was warm and supple to the touch. But there was no response from her. His long ears wilted. His words were mournful:

“You gave me sentience, made me independent, taught me how to love.”

His chest rose and fell as his breaths deepened. His red eyes shone vibrantly.

“I give up my place in the light…to be by your side.”

Tears formed in his eyes.

“Unworthy and imperfect as I am…I am yours, now and forever.”

A tear bled from one eye and ran down his cheek as he brought his forehead down to hers, closing his wet eyes.

“I love you,” he uttered fragilely against her face.

Clutching her rope of hair tighter against his cheek, his forehead pressed against hers, touching her protruding Chaos Crystal runestone. As he did so, a fuchsia glow radiated from the First Ones crystal in his palm against his face. The fuchsia light seeped through her lilac and cerise hair strands in his grip. On her forehead, the Chaos Crystal slowly lit up, illuminating their faces with a faint reddish pink cerise glow.

Rivulets of liquid alloy ran down her rope of hair, entwining with it. Within the fuchsia light of his grasp, her rope of hair remoulded into a single silvery white cable with a spiked head. His fingers tightened around it.

“Let me be with you,” he exhaled over her lips.

He brought the alloy cable formed from her hair to the port hole on the back of his neck. With a deep sigh, he plugged it in.

Connected. Together. One.

Darkly, his eyelids lowered.

His lips found hers, merging.

There were no boundaries between them…

as the world simultaneously shrank to a kiss…

and expanded to two minds intertwining…

joyful, painful, bright, dark.

Subtle, her lips stirred against his, gently pressing back.

From behind them, the red light of the portal exploded, poured forth, engulfing them.

The floor rumbled as the Horde mothership quaked. The portal’s energy was seeping into the docking bay now, red cracks of light branching through the walls.

Wiping at her tear-stained face, Catra reached the door of the glass emergency control room and pressed a button beside it. It slid open and she half pulled herself out of the room by gripping the doorway. Her body was becoming heavy. It was getting difficult to move. The gravity was increasing again as the portal energies grew stronger. It wouldn’t be long now before the mothership was consumed.

Her head and ears descended as she dragged herself from the glass control room.

This was how she was going out. Adora and her friends would live. Villains fell. The good guys survived. Everyone got what they deserved.

She heard Adora’s voice again:

_"I want **you** , Catra!”_

Adora had wanted her too.

She had been wanted.

Catra smiled weakly.

Everything around her shook. Horde ships nearby began to sway unsteadily. A strange sensation caused Catra’s fur to rise all of a sudden and she looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw a familiar red figure engulfed in dark flames emerge from the corridor that they had come out of earlier.

“Shadow Weaver?” she uttered.

The dark magic-emanating sorceress stopped and looked at her from a short distance away, the white eyes of her mask widening too. Catra observed that her dark magic had weakened, no longer covering the walls of the surrounding area.

“Catra…,” Shadow Weaver responded.

The former guardian and ward stared at one another.

“You…did not escape,” Shadow Weaver observed.

Catra crossed her arms and turned away slightly.

“Looks like we’re both sacrificing ourselves,” she replied tonelessly. “At least we’re going out together though. And you’ll be glad to know that your favourite child Adora got out.” Her gaze lowered. “I made sure of it.”

Shadow Weaver regarded her former ward silently, then she moved toward her, lifting a hand that radiated a dark aura. She brought her hand to Catra’s face, holding her cheek gently. Catra could feel the tingle of her dark magic on the fur of her cheek as she looked up at her with a mixture of emotions on her face: surprise, confusion, wariness and longing.

“Adora had power,” Shadow Weaver said in a voice barely audible. “But you…you were always the one I saw myself in the most: my ambition, my cunning, my self-belief…my loneliness.”

She reached up to her own face with her other hand and removed her mask. Catra’s mouth fell open as she looked into the true face of her former mother figure, a face that was horrifically disfigured. Lowering her mask into Catra’s hands, Shadow Weaver looked into her eyes.

“You are my true legacy, Catra,” she uttered. “And I’m so proud of you.”

Mara’s ancient First Ones ship shook as it made its escape from the Horde mothership into Space. With thrusters at maximum strength, it fought to maintain forward momentum against the gravitational forces pulling at it.

Within its control room, the princesses and rebels held on tightly to any firm surface they could. Their eyes were wide and their mouths open as they stared wordlessly through the ship’s windows.

The impossible sight of the Horde mothership and armada being engulfed by expanding red light filled their vision. The portal had swelled into a black hole of swirling red energy, rapidly swallowing the light of stars along with the entire Horde mothership and armada.

As the last ships of the Horde empire disappeared into the swirling red light, the portal began to shrink as rapidly as it had expanded.

Suddenly, the ancient First Ones ship rocked violently as a thruster blew up on its underside. It began to descend toward a glowing planet in the distance.

Under the shrinking portal’s diminishing red light, the ancient ship and her Etherian passengers fell toward their home world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went through various outcomes for our protagonists before writing this chapter. I wanted to create a different ending from canon, but also to maintain familiar aspects from the show in order for it to be recognisable. I had a vague idea of keeping Catradora as endgame material, but my version of Catra has stayed closer to her villain's path than canon Catra who went through a redemption arc in season 5. My intention for her has always been from the thinking: 'how would Catra turn out if she had stayed a villain?'
> 
> With Shadow Weaver, I also wanted to touch on her connection with Micah more than the show did in season 5. Up until the fourth season, I had believed that her past with Micah would come up again as something of significance, but the final season didn't do anything more than reference Shadow Weaver's manipulation of Micah in one of Castaspella's lines to her, which I found a little disappointing. I had thought Micah would be a potential way to reveal some of Shadow Weaver's more sympathetic qualities. In a way, I wonder whether she was another character whose final portrayal was affected by Catra's redemption arc. Her emtional manipulation and abuse was emphasized again perhaps to promote more sympathy for Catra.
> 
> On Entrapta, I wrestled with the idea of fusing her with the alien liquid alloy. I went with it as I felt that it was a fitting development for her as a scientific and technological chracter. The idea of her becoming partly technological appealed to me. And as for the fate of her and Hordak (and a bunch of distraught Horde clones!), stay tuned folks!
> 
> Next chapter, the aftermath on Etheria.


	29. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The princesses and rebels return home victorious, but Adora deals with the weight of their losses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not on tumblr or twitter and I've not been participating in it, but I've been enjoying reading some of the Entrapdak month prompt fics popping up. Whoever came up with the idea of these daily prompts, I think it's great!
> 
> If the last chapter shook you, I hope this one provides some relief and comfort.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me this far and for the support, readers. Always appreciate reading your comments. I'm glad to hear that I've caused you to feel things. Remember, be good to yourselves.

A violent shudder shook the ancient First Ones ship. The princesses and rebels in the command room were thrown to the floor as the ship tilted.

Seated in the captain’s chair, Bow frantically tapped at a holographic screen before him.

“This is not good!” he announced in a panicked voice. “We lost an anti-gravity engine to the portal!”

Peering out a side window, Frosta pointed to a glowing planet in the distance. “But we’re still heading toward Etheria, so that’s good right?”

Bow, eyes still fixed on the holographic screen before him, answered quickly: “Getting there isn’t the problem! It’s getting there in one piece! The ship’s out of control! We’re falling too fast! I can’t stop it!”

The princesses and rebels all looked at him with wide eyes.

“There must be something we can do!” Adora insisted, coming up to Bow. “If I can get outside, maybe I can-”

Bow’s head snapped to her in alarm. “Adora, you can’t! The ship’s burning up outside! I can’t open up the doors! We’d all be burnt to a crisp!” His eyes fell. “I don’t think even the power of She-Ra can help us here.”

There was a tense pause in the room as dismay entered the faces of the princesses and their companions, their eyes wide and frozen.

Then the silence was broken abruptly by Swift Wind:

“ **Why didn’t I just stay behind on Etheria?** ” the winged unicorn wailed, slumping defeatedly to the floor.

Standing by a wall, Double Trouble sighed audibly. “Not exactly the ending I anticipated to my dazzling acting career.” They leaned back in a dramatic pose, holding a hand up to their head. “But at least I go out dramatically!”

Scorpia looked anxiously to the other princesses. Her eyes began to water and her lips quivered with bubbling emotions.

“If this is it,” she suddenly cried, “I just want to say thank you to all of you for accepting me as a princess after I left the Horde and for being such good friends!” Tears streamed down her face as she poured out her feelings before the stunned princesses. “You’ve all been so wonderful! Especially you, Perfuma! You’ve been the kindest person I’ve ever met!”

Perfuma’s eyes sparkled with tears and her hands came up to her heart. “Oh Scorpia! I think you’re wonderful too!”

Glimmer’s head hung low as she joined Adora and Bow at the captain’s chair.

“Bow, Adora,” she said in a low voice, “I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you both before about the Heart of Etheria. And for getting angry at you and saying hurtful things.” She looked up at them hesitantly. “I let my grief and position as queen get in the way of our friendship.”

Smiles rose on Adora and Bow’s faces as they looked back at her. Their eyes began to water.

“Glimmer, we’re sorry too that we weren’t better friends,” Adora replied shakily. “We left you alone when you needed us and ignored you when you wanted us to hear you. We should have supported and understood you better. And we should have talked to and trusted you more.”

Tears fell from Glimmer’s eyes as she threw herself at her two best friends, embracing them tightly.

“You guys…I love you!” she exclaimed.

“We love you too, Glimmer!” Bow replied adamantly, eagerly returning her embrace. “And nothing will ever change that!”

Mermista sighed as she watched Perfuma and Scorpia happily embrace one another as well.

“He’s like the worst pirate ever and his sea shanties are terrible, but I actually…kinda really have a thing for Sea Hawk,” she admitted.

Several eyes turned to her as the princesses and their friends stared.

“What?” the sea princess shrugged. “You were all sharing feelings and stuff.”

Micah embraced Angella who wrapped her translucent wings around him in return.

“At least we got to be together again,” he whispered, holding her head down to his.

Castaspella knelt down beside a hunched Frosta and opened her arms to her. The small ice princess fell into her embrace gratefully.

Through the front windows of the ship, Etheria’s seas and lands grew larger in view as the ship broke through the planet’s atmosphere. Sirens began to blare and red lights flashed onboard the ship. Adora, Bow and Glimmer clung together in a group hug. Swift Wind joined them, laying his head down over Adora’s shoulder. Angella and Micah held onto one another, leaning their heads together. Castaspella brought Frosta into a tight hug. Mermista, Perfuma and Scorpia grasped one another’s hands and huddled together. Imp glided down onto Double Trouble’s shoulder and the shapeshifter patted the winged clone child’s head fondly.

The ancient ship plummeted, burning red with heat as it fell through clouds. Its passengers braced themselves for the worst.

“This is it!” Bow cried out, hugging Adora and Glimmer tighter. “It’s been an honour to fight for the Rebellion!”

Glimmer’s eyes were squeezed shut, but then she opened them and looked down at her hands in surprise. She saw sparkles of magic rising from her fingers.

“My magic!” she declared suddenly. “I-I can feel it coming back!”

She broke away abruptly from Adora, Bow and Swift Wind. They watched her run toward the ship’s control panels in confusion.

“I have an idea!” she exclaimed, placing her hands over the control panels. “Hang on, everyone!”

“Glimmer, what-” Bow began to ask.

“Just trust me!” Glimmer shouted back.

She shut her eyes in concentration and her body began to glow and emit sparkles.

“Here goes!” she cried out.

All eyes looked to the young queen of Bright Moon as she became radiant with sparkling energy. Then dazzling white light exploded from her body, causing eyes to shut and flooding the ship.

The ancient ship vanished mid-descent from the sky in a cloud of sparkles.

When Bow and Adora peeled open their eyes again, the ship was no longer moving. Along with their surprised companions, they looked to the front windows. It was dark outside, but in the light of a large silver moon, they saw an open grass field and trees in the distance.

“The Whispering Woods…,” Adora observed in shock. “We…we made it!”

The group around her erupted into raucous cheers.

Glimmer was leaning over the control panel, recovering from her magical feat, when Bow suddenly ran up to her and swept her up in his arms. She laughed in surprise as he joyfully spun her around.

“Glimmer, you did it!” he exclaimed. “You saved us!”

“Wow! I can’t believe I pulled that off!” she laughed.

“You’re amazing!” Bow declared as he lowered her to her feet before him. His bright eyes and broad smile caused a blush to appear on her cheeks.

The boarding ramp was lowered and the princesses and rebels disembarked from the ship, stepping out, one by one, onto the open grass where they rejoiced in being back on Etherian soil. In the open air, the freed magic of Etheria surrounded them: gold sparkles floating like pollen around them.

As they celebrated, more figures ran out from the trees of the Whispering Woods toward them. It was Netossa, Spinerella, Sea Hawk and other refugees.

“Guys!” Netossa called, waving. “We saw your ship falling out of the sky! Is everyone alright?”

The two groups came together, exchanging relived words and hugs. Netossa, Spinerella and Sea Hawk joined the other princesses whilst Micah, Angella and Castaspella were greeted enthusiastically by other sorcerers and Bright Moon refugees.

Scorpia opened her broad arms when she saw a familiar three-legged spherical drone trundling toward her.

“Emily!” she cried happily. “Am I glad to see you again!”

The large scorpion princess wrapped herself over the spherical drone in an embrace. Emily beeped happily in response. When Scorpia separated herself from the drone, Imp flew down and landed on top of Emily as well, joyfully hugging her too.

Sea Hawk was running toward Mermista as he loudly declared:

“Mermista, my dearest! I ran as fast as I could to come to your rescue! I was prepared to throw myself before your falling ship! Thank goodness I did not have to!”

Mermista hastily covered her face with a hand and turned it away to hide the blush rising in her cheeks. Sea Hawk seized her free hand and fell dramatically to his knees before her, passionate words spilling from his mouth:

“My princess of the sea! You have no idea of the agony I went through just thinking of you being trapped on the Horde mothership! If only I had been there to protect you! I promise I shall never leave your side again! The pain of being without you was too much to bear! I-”

Mermista suddenly dropped her hand from her red face and glared furiously at the pirate.

“Sea Hawk!” she snapped.

The pirate fell silent immediately, looking up at the woman he adored with large, anxious eyes.

“Yes, my love?” he asked meekly.

He yelped when, without warning, Mermista hauled him to his feet and pulled him right up to her face. He blinked in surprise as she glared down at him, her face an inch from his. 

“Stop talking,” she muttered before pushing her lips onto his. Sea Hawk’s eyes lit up with delight.

As the princesses revelled in their reunions, Adora quietly slipped away from the group. In the evening darkness, she wandered to the edge of a cliff and looked down into a green valley. Like fireflies, gold sparkles of magic drifted around her as she reached inside her red jacket and pulled out Catra’s burgundy headpiece. She held it by her side, a sombre expression on her face.

The sound of soft footsteps approached from behind her.

“Adora?” It was Glimmer. “Are you okay?”

Adora did not turn around to face her friend. “I don’t know...” Her voice was quiet. “Catra, Shadow Weaver, Entrapta, Hordak…they’re all gone…”

There was a heavy moment of silence, then Bow’s voice broke it:

“You were right about Hordak before, Adora,” he said slowly. Curiously, Adora turned to face him. He was standing beside Glimmer, holding her hand. “He wasn’t the villain that we thought he was. He and Entrapta…really were…friends. And Shadow Weaver and Catra…cared about more than just themselves.”

He shared a look of mutual feeling with Glimmer, then they both looked back at Adora.

“When I was on the Horde mothership, I spoke with Hordak after he had been reconditioned, and he was…not what I expected…,” Glimmer recalled, eyes dropping to the ground. “He was actually kinda…nice…He was a prisoner of Horde Prime’s too.”

She paused, then looked up at Adora and Bow again.

“Hordak, Entrapta, Shadow Weaver, Catra…they may have been with the Horde, but they weren’t so different from us,” the young queen said firmly. “They were people too. They made mistakes and bad choices. But they still had hearts and were capable of good. And they saved us in the end.”

Adora brought a hand up to rub her eyes. She could feel tears pricking at the corners of them. Bow’s hand came to rest comfortingly on the side of her arm.

“It’s okay to mourn them, Adora,” he reassured. “We’ll mourn them with you.”

Adora squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the oncoming tears. “They could have changed…They could have been better…Now they’ll never get a chance…”

She clutched Catra’s headpiece between her hands and brought it up to her chest.

“And Catra and I will never…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

Catra’s final words returned to her:

_“I want you to always ask yourself: what do I want?”_

_“I want you!”_

Their kiss echoed on her lips.

“Catra…,” she choked.

She pressed Catra’s headpiece harder into her chest.

“It should have been me!” she blurted suddenly. Tears burst from her tightly squeezed eyes, flowing freely down her cheeks. “I was supposed to be the one to save others! But I couldn’t save them!”

A hand fell upon her shoulder and Adora opened her watery eyes to see Micah and Angella standing before her as well. They had joined Glimmer and Bow. Micah’s hand was on her shoulder.

“No, Adora,” he said gently, holding her gaze firmly. “It was never your responsibility to save them. They didn’t want to be saved. They made their own choices. There was nothing you could have done.”

Adora lowered her tear-stained eyes and her hands fell from her chest. Catra’s headpiece hung limply by her side.

Micah’s gaze at her softened. “Even She-Ra can’t stop people from deciding their own fates.”

“They wanted you and all of us to live, Adora,” Angella said gently from beside Micah. “So, let us do that. Let us live…for them and for ourselves.”

The former queen of Bright Moon raised her gaze to the star-filled night sky. Her eyes closed and a heaviness fell over her features. Adora felt her heart sink as she thought again of Entrapta. She had been Angella’s first daughter. Angella would never be reunited with her now. And they had lost a fellow princess and friend.

Angella’s eyes opened again. Her face was calm and composed once more.

“You have returned magic to our world,” she continued, bringing her eyes back down to Adora. “Etheria is finally free of the Horde, and we can begin to re-build our kingdoms and our lives. It is all thanks to them and you, Adora.”

Glimmer came beside Adora, laying her hand on her lower arm.

“Wherever they all are now, they deserve to be at peace,” the young queen said with a comforting smile. “And you deserve not to blame yourself for them.”

Bow appeared on Adora’s other side, holding her arm too.

“We won’t forget their sacrifices,” he added. “And we’ll always be here for you, Adora. You’re never alone.”

As her best friends embraced her in a group hug, Adora leaned into them. At her side, her hand tightened around Catra’s headpiece.

She lifted her gaze to the night sky where a falling star streaked across. A tear leaked from eye as she whispered:

“I loved you too, Catra.”

Dawn was breaking over the Crimson Waste. The emerging rays of Etheria’s new sun began to peek over the horizon. 

Cutting through the Waste’s desert sands was a long, smouldering trail, at the end of which sat a white, spherical Horde pod half-buried in the sand. The door of the pod was lowered, and a white-hooded female figure with a furred tail stood nearby. She held down her white hood with a hand as it flapped in the cool desert breeze.

The hooded figure lifted her head. Blue and yellow eyes looked out from underneath the white hood, surveying the familiar desert of the Crimson Waste. At her side, she clutched Shadow Weaver’s red mask. Her mind returned to her final moments on the Horde mothership:

_Reaching up to her own face with a hand, Shadow Weaver removed her mask. Catra’s mouth fell open as she looked into the hideously disfigured features of her former mother figure. Lowering her mask into Catra’s hands, Shadow Weaver looked into her eyes._

_“You are my true legacy, Catra,” she uttered. “And I’m so proud of you.”_

_Catra watched the beginnings of tears forming in her one-time mother’s unnatural eyes. Or perhaps it was her own tears obscuring her vision?_

_Shadow Weaver’s hand came up to her cheek._

_“Do not forget me, my child,” the sorceress whispered._

_“What-” Catra began._

_Before she could finish, the dark sorceress raised her hands and Catra was hit by a wave of dark magic. It swept her away in a floating stream toward a spherical Horde escape pod located near the entrance of the docking bay. The feline woman was powerless as she felt herself being thrown into the spherical pod. The door of the pod closed over her as she looked out through its small window._

_“ **Shadow Weaver!** ” she shouted from within the pod. “ **What are you doing?** ”_

_She watched the red sorceress approach, dark magic radiating from her body. Shadow Weaver leaned over the window of the pod, regarding her former ward with a calm expression on her grotesque face._

_“Survive, Catra,” the sorceress instructed in a low but firm voice. “Defy all expectations. Be stronger.”_

_Catra’s fists came up to the sides of the pod’s window._

_“ **Shadow Weaver!** ” she cried helplessly._

_A wave of dark magic engulfed the pod and Catra felt it being lifted and pushed away. Through her window, she saw Shadow Weaver shrink as the pod was jettisoned from the bay into Space._

_“ **SHADOW WEAVEEERRR!** ” she screamed._

_Shooting away from the Horde mothership and armada, she watched as the red light of the portal exploded around them._

Catra released her hold on her white hood and allowed it to be blown back by the desert wind. Her long brown hair drifted loose in the cool breeze. She gazed down at Shadow Weaver’s mask in her hand. Her thumb stroked it. Then she knelt down and dropped the mask into the sand.

“Goodbye, Shadow Weaver,” she uttered.

She rose again and looked skyward. A lone morning star twinkled in the brightening sky. A smile formed on her lips.

“Til next time, Adora,” she exhaled into the desert breeze.

Her eyes lowered to watch the sun rising over the horizon.

“So where do I go from here?” she asked the wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kill Catra? Never thought of it. She always survives, thanks to Shadow Weaver in this instance. The Crimson Waste felt like a fitting place for her to return to, seen as how she was happy there, albeit briefly, once. Where she goes from there is up to you, dear readers, but I like to think that she'll make better choices for herself in future. One hopes. And at some point, she'll likely have to cross paths with Adora again...
> 
> Though Shadow Weaver and Catra's relationship was abusive and highly damaging, Catra always struck me as being the one most like Shadow Weaver. In saving Catra, I imagine Shadwo Weaver was, in a sense, still motivated by a selfish desire to preserve her only true legacy. I don't feel like the show's final season ever really resolved Catra's feelings of being made to feel like second-best next to Adora. This was a way to do that, by having Shadow Weaver acknowledge the difference between Catra and Adora and recognise Catra as the truest reflection of herself.
> 
> It's my own little flight of fancy, but I've warmed to the idea of Castaspella becoming something of a mother figure to Frosta. I've always assumed that Frosta must have lost her parents tragically, hence how she came to be a ruler at so young an age. She's still a child in need of a parent's love and care sometimes. And Castaspella could be more than just Glimmer's aunt whose magical prowess is often (unfavourably) compared to her more powerful brother's. So, I'm bringing these two together in my head!
> 
> The next chapter is turning out longer than I expected. Three more chapters in the planning now. Stick around, folks. We'll be checking in with Hordak in the next one!


	30. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the portal, Hordak remembers a chance encounter with the man who would change his life forever and lays to rest his demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hordak revisits a critical moment in the past as he comes to terms with the present.
> 
> Two more chapters to go after this. Enjoy, folks! And happy Halloween in advance!

The sky was yellow, kissed by a golden sun.

Hordak knew this place: Eternia.

Ahead of him, he saw the old, broken ship he had travelled here in, the parting gift his great and benevolent emperor and brother, Horde Prime, had generously bequeathed him before decreeing that he be sent to the battlefield on Eternia, to offer his body up for the glory of the Horde Empire. It had been his brother’s final acknowledgment for his respected services as a Horde General up until that point.

He was not expected to return to his emperor’s side.

His…weakness…had been exposed before his emperor and brothers. He was not fit to serve Horde Prime. He was defective, a failure.

He felt the pain. Not just in his body. In his mind and heart too. It was the pain of a body ill-made that was destroying itself from the inside out, eating itself, wasting away. The pain of being thrown away by his brother because of it. The pain of being less than others, unable to properly function, useless…

Wearily, Hordak looked down at his reflection on a blade, staring at his own red eyes looking back up at him. He was in his unblemished white Horde uniform, minimal armour over his shoulders and arms, dark grey cloak hanging behind him, and his dark blue hair combed back. In his hand, he held a standard-issue sword that he had been offered before being sent off in the old, broken ship, another generous parting gift for a failure such as he. The blade was long and heavy, too large and unwieldy for his weakened, wasting arms. Further evidence of his uselessness, his failure to be perfect for his brother.

On the reflecting surface of his blade, he caught sight of a moving shadow behind him. He spun round just as a cloaked figure came down on him with a long staff. He swung his sword up just in time to block the attacker’s oncoming strike. Their weapons ground against one another. Sparks flew from metal upon metal. Hordak’s other hand came up to support his blade against the weight of his attacker’s staff. With a snarl, he pushed back and forced his cloaked attacker to stagger back.

He took in the sight of his opponent. He had a masculine build that was covered almost entirely by a long dark, plum purple cloak. His face was largely hidden under a heavy hood, save for a pair of round, bright red lenses that glinted ominously in the light of day. The staff he grasped in his bony, tanned skinned hand was constructed of intertwined silver metal and dark mahogany wood. And set into the head of the staff was a diamond-shaped, fuchsia-coloured crystal inscribed with ancient symbols. It was familiar…

“Lost, Horde General?” the cloaked man taunted, directing Hordak’s attention back to him. His voice was distinctively high-pitched and rough. He gripped his metal and wooden staff in both hands. His body lowered, visibly tensing in preparation for a fight. “Where are your brothers? It is unlike Horde clones to wander alone in enemy territory.”

Hordak did not reply. He mirrored his opponent, widening his stance and tensing his body in readiness for combat as well. The sword was heavy in his grasp, but he endured the discomfort it caused. He bared his sharp red teeth at his mysterious attacker.

They watched one another from opposing sides, surrounded by the rocky walls of a deep gorge, neither moving.

“Why has Horde Prime sent you here?” the cloaked man rasped in his scratchy, high-pitched voice.

Hordak growled: “I do not answer to Eternian savages!”

The cloaked man suddenly dropped his staff in his hands and pointed its crystal-tipped head at Hordak. A globule of bright purple energy formed around the fuchsia crystal head. Hordak twisted sideways just in time to avoid a blast of purple energy launched at him, nearly dropping his heavy sword. His red eyes snapped back to the cloaked man in surprise.

“ **I am no savage, Horde General!** ” the cloaked man declared angrily.

He reached up with a bony, tanned hand to his head and suddenly pulled his hood back, revealing his face for the first time. He lifted up bright red safety goggles to reveal deep-set blood red eyes underneath thick, angular eyebrows. Raven black hair fell around sharp cheek bones and tanned, honey-hued skin onto his broad shoulders. A thin moustache sat underneath his long nose and a small, triangular beard covered his chin. He wore a form-fitting royal blue shirt that was overlaid by crisscrossing belts with pockets and straps carrying various small tools and devices on his person.

“ **I am Prince Keldor of the Royal House of Miro!** ” he boomed. “ **And I have spent years in the study and research of magic!** ” The crystal head of his staff glowed purple warningly. “ **Few can match my expertise in it!** ”

Hordak’s red eyes narrowed and he began to bring his sword up. “Your princedom and magical expertise are meaningless before the power of Horde Prime! UGH!”

Suddenly, the sword fell from his grasp with a clatter to the rocky ground. Sharp, debilitating pain shot up through Hordak’s side and he curled inward, gritting his sharp teeth and turning his body away as he clutched his side.

No, not now! Why did his accursed defective body have to fail him now? Was this how he was to die? Weak and helpless before an armed opponent?

Keldor made no move, watching Hordak curl up in pain before him.

“You are…unwell,” he observed.

Hordak’s reached out with a hand and found a rock wall to lean against for support. He squeezed his eyes shut, breathing heavily as he endured the crippling pain.

“You have been abandoned, haven’t you?” Keldor concluded, slowly lowering his staff. “Horde Prime did not send you here for a mission. He sent you here…to die alone on the battlefield…”

Hordak did not look at him as he spoke. He did not want to hear his shameful, stabbing words. He did not want to see his enemy’s scorn or pity. He focused instead on suppressing the pain in his side, on keeping himself upright. He would endure. He would be strong. He would not humiliate himself further before an opponent by falling to his knees. He would maintain his last bit of dignity and remain standing.

Keldor stepped toward him cautiously. “You were…rejected, discarded…for your illness.”

A rumble rose from deep within Hordak’s chest. He turned his furious red glare upon him, his ears flattening as he snarled:

“You know nothing! You know nothing of me! I am an instrument of Horde Prime’s will, born of his perfection! I am **not** a defect! I am **worth** something!”

Keldor paused, his blood red eyes watching him thoughtfully. “Strange…,” he remarked. “You are a defiant one, not like the others…You exhibit a will…”

Silence fell over the raven-haired Eternian prince and the Horde General, bent forward and breathing heavily, as they regarded one another. Then Keldor’s gaze shifted away.

“Perhaps we are not so dissimilar, you and I,” he mused. A joyless expression settled over his honey-hued features. “I too know the anguish of being cast out by a brother…I too know the pain of being rejected because I am different...And like you, I refuse to accept defeat...”

His blood red gaze returned to Hordak, his expression hardening.

“I should end your suffering…,” he uttered solemnly.

He raised his staff toward the yellow sky. Its crystal head began to glow purple.

“…but I find myself compelled to believe in what you say…”

The purple glow of the crystal grew brighter, becoming a blinding light. The sky above darkened rapidly as clouds collected.

“…that even defects have worth...”

A beam of purple energy shot out suddenly from the staff’s crystal into the sky, cutting a hole through the clouds and expanding into a giant swirling purple vortex. Hordak stared up at it in shock and awe.

Keldor’s scratchy voice lowered, almost sad in tone: “I do you a kindness, Horde General…”

A curtain of purple energy fell from the giant purple portal in the sky, descending around them in a wide circle.

“Perhaps in time, we may both find what we seek…”

Keldor’s last words were cut off as Hordak turned to see his old, broken ship being lifted off the ground, rising up into the portal. Then he felt himself rising off the ground as well. He looked back to Keldor who was also being pulled up into the air. From the head of his staff in his grasp, the fuchsia crystal inscribed with ancient symbols shone like a bright purple star.

Hordak’s vision rose skyward. He watched, powerless, as he was drawn upwards into the portal’s swirling purple light.

Hordak was in a different place. The sky was no longer yellow, but red. The golden sun had been replaced by a red moon, large and luminous. Darkness surrounded him.

Beneath him was the sound of gently lapping water. He was standing in it, cold, dripping, aching in body and mind. Ahead of him, he saw the outline of his old, broken ship, its sharp tip jutting out at an awkward angle from the water. He had crash landed in a lake, on a foreign world unknown to him.

He clenched his hands at his sides and looked up, staring forlornly into the bleeding sky.

“Why have you forsaken me, Prime?” he uttered into a deafening silence.

At the edges of his consciousness, a voice whispered:

_"You were not meant to be a slave to Horde Prime."_

Hordak surveyed the surrounding darkness, seeing no-one. The voice was high-pitched, rasping…Keldor’s…but he was nowhere to be seen.

A green glow emanated from the water beneath him. Hordak looked down. His red eyes widened. His breathing froze.

In the surface of the lake water, the image of Horde Prime watched him. His four acid green eyes were piercing and an easy smile rested on his lips.

“ **I am in your memories, in your thoughts, in your dreams** ,” his emperor’s watery image said serenely.

Hordak took a step back through the water.

Keldor’s scratchy voice echoed at the edges of his consciousness again:

_“You were meant to have your own ambitions, your own desires, your own will.”_

On the water’s ebbing surface, Horde Prime’s smile widened:

“ **No matter where you go, I will always be with you, Little Brother.** ”

Hordak’s breaths grew harder, faster, uncontrolled. He stared paralysed at his brother’s talking image.

Keldor’s high-pitched voice continued to ring in his ears:

_“You were meant to make your own choices, shape your own destiny.”_

Something bubbled up in Hordak’s chest, a hot, primitive feeling he had been holding back for a long time, one that a little brother of the almighty Emperor of the Universe was not supposed to have:

Resentment. Towards his all-seeing, all-knowing emperor. It drove him to glare down at his big brother’s image, haloed by green light, in the water, and to utter blasphemous words:

“You have no power over me.”

Keldor’s voice grew more prominent around him. Another voice, high-pitched as well, but feminine and joyful in quality, began to merge with it:

_“Horde Prime created you, but you are more than what he made you for.”_

Resentment stoked the fire of Hordak’s boldness, spurring him on before his almighty brother:

“I am no longer yours to control,” he declared quietly.

The merging high-pitched voices, masculine and feminine, were loud now:

_“He calls you an abomination because you are imperfect, flawed, unique.”_

Hordak turned his head away, shutting his eyes.

“ **Don’t look away from me!** ” Horde Prime demanded of him.

Keldor’s voice diminished, subsuming into the joyful female voice as it rose:

_“But your imperfections are what make you beautiful.”_

Hordak’s ears perked up. He opened his eyes. Her voice, he knew it.

“Entrapta?” he uttered tentatively.

From beneath him, Horde Prime sneered:

“ **You think you can replace me with that corruptive little half-breed princess?** ”

Another feeling swelled in Hordak’s chest. It was lighter than air, fragile, delicate. Her words filled him with it, lifting him up:

_“You build things: an army, an empire, a portal…”_

Hope. Pure, beautiful, precious.

“She does not **replace** you, Brother…,” Hordak whispered, a smile rising on his lips.

Her voice, bell-like, was soothing, comforting, gentle:

_“You survive, ailing, alone and abandoned on an alien world…”_

Her words freed him, made him weightless, lifted his burdens. He could soar on her joyful voice.

His voice was firm: “She **succeeds** you in every way.”

She knew him like no other…

_“You value trust and even companionship, despite keeping yourself at a distance from others, despite your conditioning…”_

She had been his partner, his friend…

“She does not command my devotion,” he uttered, resolute, “she returns it.”

…the only one he had ever opened up to.

_“You’re you…”_

She had cared for him, helped him…

“She’s sees me as I truly am, and embraces it.”

…wanted to be with him…

_“You’re imperfect…”_

…in spite and because of his defects.

“She is my equal, my partner.”

In her presence, he had been valued…

_“You’re beautiful…”_

…worthy…

“And she is worthy of my loyalty.”

…loved.

_“And you’re so loved.”_

He had known happiness with her.

Hordak turned away from the green haloed image of his brother in the water. “Good bye, Brother.”

“ **Don’t turn your back on me, Little Brother!** ” Horde Prime spat.

Ahead of him, Hordak spotted a flickering light, a bright purple fuchsia star glittering over the red moon-tainted waters of the lake.

“ **I am your reason for existence!** ” Prime snarled from behind him, his green halo flaring like fire from his body. “ **You need me!** ”

The fuchsia star shimmered in the distance, beckoning Hordak to it.

“Not anymore,” he uttered, leaving behind his brother’s green fire in pursuit of the fuchsia star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My version of Keldor is more of a sorcerer scientist. I imagine him to take a more practical scientific approach to the study of magic, a trait he shares with his daughter, Entrapta. He's also not blue-skinned as in previous incarnations. Darker skin is another trait Entrapta inherits from him. The merging and transitioning of Keldor and Entrapta's voices was symbolic of their blood connection. And similar to both Hordak and Entrapta, Keldor's experienced rejection. At the point he meets Hordak, he's on the run after been cast out by his brother King Randor, hence why he sought to escape to another world. 
> 
> As for Horde Prime, Hordak had to lay his brother's memory to rest. Keldor started Hordak's journey to self-liberation by transporting him to Etheria, and now he's reached the conclusion of his journey.
> 
> Next chapter, Hordak returns to the present.


	31. Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak moves on from the past and faces a new life with his partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A belated happy Halloween all, though if you're in the U.K., it came with sobering news about another national lockdown. Whether you're entering a lockdown or living under tighter restrictions, take care of yourselves in these uncertain times, folks.
> 
> After 30 chapters, this fic is finally coming to an end. The next and final update will be an epilogue of sorts. I hope you'll be satisfied with the ending. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed my updates and left kudos and comments over past months. You've helped me see this story through to the end and I hope it has been worth your time and interest. It's certainly been a significant writing endeavour for me, but I've enjoyed the process and spending time with these wonderful characters.
> 
> At long last, Hordak and Entrapta are reunited.
> 
> As always, comments are treasured!

The fuchsia star beckoned to him.

Horde Prime’s enraged cries faded and the fire of his green halo died away as Hordak moved through the dark red water toward it. He felt familiar, comforting armour encompassing his weak body securely as he followed the star. Above him, the red Etherian moon shone, tainting the lake that he had crash-landed into a deep burgundy. The fuchsia star’s glittering light was reflected in its gentle lapping currents.

He reached for it and a sense of elation filled him.

As he drew nearer, a small female figure became visible in the water, curled over the small fuchsia light shining from her upturned hand. She was in a stained white shirt with plum purple straps pulled up over her shoulders. Long lilac hair with cerise streaks flowed down from her head, over her back, fanning out over the water around her.

She looked up as he approached. A soft red glow shone from her forehead. A smile blossomed on her lips. The fuchsia light emanating from her hand illuminated her smiling face and sparkling magenta eyes as she called to him:

“Hordak…”

The memories flooded back: the portal machine they had built together; her arm in his hold and her stunned expression as the light of the portal exploded behind her; her face, smiling gently, hair tails raised like wings, backlit by raining sparks.

His lab partner, his only friend…

She raised her arms to him.

His heart leapt into his throat: “ENTRAPTA!”

He surged forward toward her, reaching for her with outstretched arms. As soon as she was within reach, he engulfed her small body in his metal-plated arms, lifting her up out of the water and into his tight embrace. She embraced him back just as fiercely, her long lilac and cerise hair whipping around him to cocoon them together.

“Entrapta, my Entrapta!” he half-laughed half-sobbed against her head. He clutched at the back of her dark plum purple overalls clinging damply to her body, crushing her against his armoured chest.

Lifting his head, he gazed down into her face and her beauty struck him. Her honey-hued skin glowed with the warmth of a sun. Her joyful smile was dazzling. Her magenta eyes, glistening with unshed tears, were captivating, a perfect fusion of dark purple and red hues, the eyes he would do anything for. On her forehead, an oval cerise crystal sat embedded, radiating a soft red glow. Wet strands of her long lilac and cerise hair clung to the sides of her face and around her neck and shoulders. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, accentuating a prominent bosom.

She was a sight he would die for.

“Hordak, you did it,” she said breathlessly, reaching up to cup his cheek with a gloved hand. “You’re free now. You don’t have to do what Horde Prime tells you to do anymore. You can do what **you** want. You’re free to make your own choices.”

Hordak reached up to hold her hand against his face, pressing his cheek harder into her gloved palm, savouring its warmth.

“This…is a dream…,” he murmured, his shadowed eyelids lowering drowsily.

The gap between their faces narrowed as she drew nearer to him.

“It doesn’t have to be,” she exhaled, her magenta eyes holding his. “We can make it real now.”

Hordak’s lips trembled as he gazed at her. He squeezed his eyes shut abruptly and grasped her hand in his, rubbing his forehead against her fingers.

“Forgive me, Entrapta, forgive me!” he pleaded. “I was a fool to want to return to Prime! To believe Catra! To think you would betray me! I never meant to leave you on Beast Island!”

Wet strands of Entrapta’s lilac and cerise hair gently took hold of Hordak’s face and brought it up to hers.

“You…remember?” she asked tentatively.

A weak smile formed on his lips.

“No matter what you say,” he whispered, “you are not a failure. Any who discount you…are utter fools.”

Her eyes lit up at the words he had once offered her in thanks for the armour she had built for him.

“You **do** remember!” she exclaimed. She threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. “I knew you would!”

Hordak’s hands rose to return her embrace, but hesitated over her body.

“I do not…deserve you…,” he uttered, his voice tiny and weak. “I have failed you.”

Her gloved hand cradled the back of his head and her fingers slipped through his wet strands of midnight blue hair, entangling with them. She rubbed her face against his.

“I was a fool too…” she whispered in a shaky voice, next to his sensitive ear, “for doubting that you were my friend, for believing that you had left me behind like everyone else…I should have known you better…I should never have lost faith in you.” A tear escaped from her tightly shut eyes.

Suddenly, Hordak’s hands were on her face, pulling her back to look at her as he held her cheeks firmly in his palms. His solid red eyes were wide and wild as they seized hers.

“Never, my princess! Never would I have left you!” he exclaimed passionately. “I would suffer an eternity of punishment to remain by your side!”

His forehead descended upon hers, his shadowed eyelids growing heavy as he gazed into her magenta eyes.

“You have given me everything of worth…” His voice was husky over her skin. “…sentience, freedom, love…”

Their eyes closed together as he laid his face on hers, nuzzling the hard ridge of his nasal cavity against the soft bump of her nose.

“I willingly fall from grace for you…,” he breathed against her warm skin.

His arms wrapped securely around her torso.

“To hold you in my arms is to know salvation…”

His thin, dark lips hovered over her plump, pale pink ones.

“I...I love…” He struggled to form his words as he stuttered. “I love you, Entrapta...”

Entrapta’s face became still, her expression blank as she gazed wordlessly at Hordak. 

“If you would have me…” His voice shrunk to a whisper. “I am yours.”

He was taken aback by the squeal of pure joy that erupted from her. She buried her face ecstatically into his neck, tears bursting from her squeezed eyes.

“Oh, Hordak!” she cried. “Of course, I would have you! You’re the only one I ever wanted!”

Her hand rose and opened to reveal the diamond-shaped, fuchsia crystal inscribed with ancient First Ones symbols, the one that she had built into the armour she made for him, that she had given him…

But that had not been the first time that he had seen the crystal, Hordak realised suddenly. He had seen it before on Eternia…in the staff of…

_Keldor._

_Keldor’s crystal._

The crystal’s fuchsia light poured over them, bathing their faces in a brilliant glow. The tears streaming down Entrapta’s face glimmered in the crystal’s light.

“I gave you this, remember?” she said softly. “It was my father’s.”

Hordak’s eyes widened at her. _Father’s…_

His hand rose to touch the crystal in her palm.

“Your father…,” he uttered almost inaudibly. “He was…Keldor?”

Entrapta’s magenta eyes closed. When they opened again, they were the vibrant blood red of Keldor’s eyes.

“Yes,” she said quietly. “He was…an Eternian prince…a First One.”

Beholding her as if for the first time, Hordak’s hand rose hesitantly to her cheek, gently wiping away her tears with a thumb.

“He did do me a kindness…,” he murmured, taking hold of a cerise strand of her hair between his fingers and smoothing it beside her face. “He created you…”

A lilac tendril of Entrapta’s hair curled around Hordak’s wrist and guided his hand down to the First Ones crystal in her palm again, bringing his hand to rest over it.

Her smile at Hordak was that of happiness.

“I wanted you to have it,” she whispered breathily, her red eyes brighter and more piercing than he had ever seen. “I wanted you to know…how much I…loved you.”

An emotion that was alien to the former Horde warlord seized hold of his chest from within. It overflowed to fill every part of his being. And as Hordak succumbed to it, he felt his eyes becoming wet.

Never could he have conceived that he was capable of feeling this way for another. Never could he have imagined that he could love someone more than Prime like this.

And never could he have believed that he could be loved like this in return.

She loved him.

She. Loved. Him.

His tears flowed unhindered down his cheeks as he uttered, almost in disbelief: “Entrapta…my princess, my joy, my strength…you…would give me your heart?”

She brought her other hand up and cupped Hordak’s larger hand and the crystal between both of hers. Then she guided their joined hands to the top of his chest where an empty diamond-shaped slot in his metal collar waited to be filled. Pressing their hands together over the empty slot, they laid the First Ones crystal into it.

“My father, Keldor, gave it to me,” Entrapta whispered, closing the space between their faces, “and I give it to you…my love.”

Hordak covered her hand with his, sliding his long fingers between hers over the crystal on his chest. His thin, black lips gravitated towards her full, pale pink ones.

“My love…,” he breathed as their lips melded together.

The fuchsia light of the First Ones crystal washed over their joined hands, spilling out onto their chests and necks. It grew brighter as their bodies came together.

Under Etheria’s red moon, they glowed like stars in the darkness, two broken souls burning bright as they entwined to become whole, rejoicing in the sin of their union.

Hordak opened his eyes.

A blurred silvery shape mixed with purple and red colours appeared in his vision.

He blinked.

The lines of the shape came into focus and the curves of a small female body came into view.

Entrapta.

She lay curled on her side, eyes closed, the oval cerise runestone dark on her forehead. Her long lilac and cerise hair lay limp over her shoulders and the curves of her body. Her white Horde dress was torn and had burnt patches. And her skin, smooth and a metallic silvery white, gleamed in the light.

They were laying on the floor, connected, he realised. A long metal cable, formed from a rope of one of her pigtails encased by the Krytian alloy, was attached to the port hole at the back of his neck. He could feel her neural bond to him.

They had been mentally linked. Their minds had merged. They had been sharing memories, thoughts and emotions. 

There was movement in her eyelids. Her fingers twitched. She stirred. Her hair curled slightly over her.

Then her eyelids pressed together. Slowly, they lifted, unveiling drowsy magenta eyes that connected with his. A soft smile spread across her lips.

Hordak’s lips rose, mirroring hers.

“My love,” he exhaled, “you are beautiful…”

A tendril of her hair drifted to his face and stroked his cheek.

“So are you…,” she murmured, “my beautiful imperfection…”

He reached up to hold her tendril of hair on his cheek, bringing it to his lips and placing a soft kiss on it.

Around them, the white figures of several Horde clones gathered. They chanted in unison as they collected in a circle around the laying bodies of Hordak and Entrapta:

_“Horde Prime has fallen. Long live our Brother. Long live the Emperor.”_

As their chanting rose in the couple’s ears, Hordak’s expression fell.

“I am not Horde Prime…,” he uttered despondently, tightening his hold on Entrapta’s hair.

Her hair curled around his hand securely.

“You don’t have to be,” she said gently. “You can be whatever you want to be now.”

The chanting of Hordak’s brothers continued:

_“Into his darkness, the shadow dimension of Despondos, we surrender.”_

Entrapta shifted closer to Hordak on the hard floor. Her eyes held his as she spoke quietly:

“We have everything we need: technology, magic, our minds…” Her tendril of hair curled down from his hand, winding around his arm. “and each other.”

The chanting echoed around them:

_“And his sins of sentience and self-identity, we embrace.”_

Hordak’s smile was of contentment as he looked at his partner.

“Together…,” he breathed, his hand reaching out for hers across the floor. His long fingers unfurled to reveal the glowing First Ones-inscribed crystal in his grasp. “…we can accomplish anything.”

In the crystal’s fuchsia light, stars sparkled in Entrapta’s magenta eyes. Her gloved hand reached back for his. Their fingers met.

“Even bringing back the stars,” she whispered with a growing smile.

Her small hand slid over the crystal that had once been Keldor’s, fitting perfectly into Hordak’s large palm. His clawed fingers closed delicately over her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hordak and Entrapta, along with the remaining Horde empire, are back in Despondos. I wouldn't be too sad for them tho'. Those two can do anything they put their minds to. And just think of the resources they have at their disposal now: Entrapta's runestone, the Krytian liquid alloy that she's fused with, the Horde's portal technology, plus a whole Horde workforce!
> 
> Keldor has not been directly involved in this story, but the L.U.V.D. crystal, which once sat on the head of his staff, serves as a reminder of his paternal connection to Entrapta. It was a symbol of Keldor's love for Entrapta as a father that became the symbol of Entrapta's love for Hordak. And it was instrumental in reigniting Hordak's memories and bringing them back together. So, through the crystal, Keldor has been a part of their union in spirit.
> 
> Next, a glimpse into the future in the epilogue!


	32. Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven years after the fall of Horde Prime, Hordak returns to Eternia with Entrapta where they make a discovery that will change their lives irrevocably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Exhales a long breath.*
> 
> Welcome to the epilogue, folks! 32 chapters later, we're finally at the end of this story. Still hard to believe I've essentially written a book here. What a ride it's been. And I'm happy to have had many of you wonderful readers join me. In what has been a difficult and worrying past year due to the worldwide pandemic, I hope this fic has offered a little comfort and distraction to many of you.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who has shown appreciation for this fic and my earlier ones, in particular my treasured commenters! You've been my fuel for writing.
> 
> Now without further ado, I offer you a glimpse of the future...

The forest was ancient. The thick trunks of its old trees reached up into grey mists.

Like a shadow, a tall hooded figure wandered through the dense forest. From under their heavy burgundy hood, vibrant red eyes scanned the surrounding trees. The hood was attached to a long burgundy cloak that flowed behind the figure as they moved quietly through the trees. Silver and navy blue body armour encompassed their broad frame under the cloak. Emblazoned on their chest were the bright red wings of the Horde emblem. And set into a silver metal collar around their neck was a diamond-shaped First Ones-inscribed crystal emanating a gentle fuchsia glow. It illuminated the lower half of a blanched face with sharp red teeth under the hood.

It was the face of Hordak.

His vibrant red eyes searched the mist-enshrouded tree tops above as he softly called out:

“Entrapta?”

The mist-enshrouded tree tops remained silent.

“Where are you?” he called again, a little louder.

“Over here!” came a high-pitched female’s reply from the trees.

He turned in the direction of the female voice, following it. He was brought to a sudden halt when a giant, four-legged spider figure dropped down directly in front of him. He did not budge or blink, only sighed in exasperation:

“Entrapta, I only consented to allowing you to come here on the condition that we would stay close together.”

She hung from the trees on four legs of lilac and cerise hair formed out of an elegant high ponytail that emerged from the back of her hooded head. A plum purple hood, which extended to form a shawl over her shoulders, hung over her silvery white metallic face. A sleeveless, dark plum purple dress with a high collar hugged her body, accompanied by a pair of long gloves of matching colour that rose past her elbows. On the throat of her high collar sat a diamond-shaped sapphire crystal with First Ones symbols, matching the fuchsia First Ones crystal in Hordak’s metal collar. Around her waist, the fabric of her dress stretched to accommodate a prominent bulging belly.

She tilted her hooded head meekly, keeping hold of her partner’s vibrant red eyes with her glistening magenta ones.

Hordak reached up to hold her chin delicately between his thumb and forefinger, his face creasing with concern.

“Had I my way, you would not be here, or at least we would be accompanied by a few of my brothers. I cannot risk anything happening to you…”

He trailed off as his red gaze fell to the large bulge of her belly.

A lilac strand of Entrapta’s hair curled around his hand holding her chin.

“Bringing along a group of your brothers would disturb the environment and potentially draw unnecessary attention to ourselves,” she countered.

Her gloved hand came up to take hold of Hordak’s. She offered him a reassuring smile as her fingers wrapped securely around his.

Her voice was low and soothing: “It took us five years to open another portal out of Despondos, and another two to locate Eternia. I couldn’t just pass up this opportunity to explore it.”

She leaned in closer to his face, her eyelids lowering seductively. Her pink lips approached his long ear within his hood as she whispered into it: “You know that, Hordak.”

Hordak shut his eyes contentedly.

“Yes,” he murmured. “I am afraid I do.”

He felt the warm softness of her lips as she pressed them to his cheek. He let out an approving “Hmm…”.

“You worry too much,” she said with a giggle, leaving him disoriented as she drew away from him abruptly.

He blinked then recomposed himself, straightening his face again.

“For good reason,” he replied firmly, though without any force behind his words.

Entrapta began to lift herself back up into the trees on her legs of hair.

“I won’t be far, I promise,” she assured. “I’m just going to find some good soil samples to collect for analysis. Be right back!”

“Entrap-“

Hordak reached out futilely for her as she swung herself agilely with her legs of hair back up into the trees, disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared. He sighed and continued forward, listening for her movement in the trees.

Entrapta lowered herself carefully into a clearing of the forest. She had sighted glowing gold specks in the soil here. Setting foot on the luminous earth, she sought out a patch of soil with a high concentration of gold specks. As she did so, her hair produced a small glass tube from within itself, removing the stopper from its top. Finding her ideal patch, she knelt down to scoop up some of the luminous soil into her tube.

“Fascinating,” she commented to herself as a tendril of her hair held up the filled tube before her eyes.

She was replacing the tube’s stopper when a rustle from the trees ahead gave her pause. She looked up, searching for the source of the sound.

“Who’s there?” she called.

The trees were silent.

Entrapta stood up slowly, tucking away her soil sample into the mass of her ponytail. She scanned the trees around her.

“Hordak, is that you?” she called out again.

Again, there was no response.

Entrapta’s eyebrows furrowed as she glanced around warily. She began to back out of the forest clearing.

As soon as she reached the cover of trees, she turned quickly to leave…and almost ran into a large shadowed figure in her path. Before she could react, a hand shot out from under the folds of a dark purple cloak and covered her mouth, muffling her scream. The hand, large and bony, gripped her cheeks and pulled her forward with startling strength, bringing her before two blood red eyes that burned from under a heavy hood.

“ **You are trespassing!** ”

A high-pitched, raspy male voice emerged from the heavy hood. A flash of dull white from his chin came into view as he drew closer to peer at Entrapta’s silvery white face. Entrapta remained utterly still as he neared her, breathing through her nose as she watched his blood red eyes moving up to her forehead where her oval cerise runestone, the Chaos Crystal, glowed faintly. There was a pause. Then his bony fingers rose slowly to hover over it.

“Where did you get this?” he asked in a subdued voice that could have been a threat or a plea.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

The snarling command broke the cloaked man’s focus on Entrapta and drew his attention toward the source: Hordak, visibly angered, stood at the other side of the clearing, pointing a sizable arm cannon directly at Entrapta’s captor. A burning red light grew within the cannon’s barrel as it charged for firing.

The cloaked man paused. His blood red eyes lowered to the red winged Horde emblem on Hordak’s chest. His eyes narrowed.

“You…,” he uttered.

Entrapta glanced at him curiously.

Hordak strode forward threateningly, keeping his cannon trained on the cloaked man.

“I said. Get. Away. From. Her,” he growled.

The cloaked man released his grip on Entrapta and moved back. As he did, his hand disappeared into his dark purple cloak and re-emerged holding a long sword. In a flash, his hands separated the blade into two smaller ones held in both hands.

Hordak reacted instantly, aiming his arm cannon with a growl and charging it to fire.

Entrapta shot a hand out to him. “Hordak, wait!”

Her cry was in vain as Hordak’s cannon let loose a red beam of firepower. The blast was narrowly avoided as the cloaked man rolled out of its path just in time. He made a dash at Hordak as his cannon charged up for a second shot. Hordak’s cannon fired a second time, but it was knocked off course when the cloaked man swung his blades up and sent the beam of red energy shooting into the mist-covered tree tops. Sliced branches and leaves rained down around the two combatants.

Before Hordak could gain control of his weapon again, he found himself on the defence when his opponent’s twin blades swung at him. He managed to bring up his cannon as a shield when a blade came down on him, nearly striking his head.

“ **Coming back here was a mistake!** ” the cloaked man hostilely declared in his scratching voice, pushing Hordak backwards with an onslaught of swinging blades. “ **Did you think you could conquer Eternia as well?** ”

Hordak glared at him with rising anger as he took blow after blow from his opponent’s blades on his raised arm cannon. He bared his sharp red teeth as his lips curled into a growl.

“ **You did not deserve mercy!** ” the cloaked man hissed. “ **You are a fool to serve Horde Prime!** ”

Hordak snapped. He suddenly swung his arm cannon outwards in a circle, knocking his opponent’s swords out of the way and halting his assault.

“ **I SERVE NO-ONE!** ” Hordak roared. His voice travelled through the surrounding trees, echoing.

The two combatants had brought up their weapons and were about to launch themselves at one another again when long lilac and cerise tendrils suddenly shot between them, wrapping around their weapons. To their surprise, Hordak and his opponent found themselves swiftly disarmed as their cannon and blades were swiped from their hands.

“ **ENOUGH!** ”

The piercing, high-pitched female screech grabbed their immediate attention. They turned their heads to see an unimpressed, swollen-bellied princess with clenched fists at her sides. Her hood had been pulled down, freeing her long lilac and cerise hair which rose like snakes around her. Held out of reach in her Medusa-like tendrils were their snatched weapons.

“ **Stop fighting! Both of you!** ” she screeched.

The two men watched her warily, cautiously stepping back from each other.

Her hair dumped their weapons behind her with a heavy clatter and she strode forward with a firm look on her face.

“Hordak, stay back,” she instructed as she passed him. “I want to talk to him.”

Hordak reached for her in protest. “Entrap-”

She snapped her head back at him and fixed him with a stern magenta glare. Hordak’s mouth clamped shut immediately. His red eyes widened.

Entrapta proceeded forward toward the cloaked man. Her long prehensile hair settled back into a high ponytail. As she came to a stop before him, the man took a cautious step back. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she regarded him inquisitively.

“I’m Princess Entrapta,” she announced suddenly with a bright smile. “I come from Etheria.”

The cloaked man froze. There was silence.

Then his voice, hoarse, uttered: “En…trap…ta?”

She raised her gloved hands in a placating gesture. Her long ponytail separated to form two large hands of hair at her sides, mimicking her real hands and emphasizing their non-hostile meaning.

“My husband and I mean no harm,” she went on, indicating Hordak with a hand and corresponding hair hand. “We’re here for exploratory purposes. We’re scientists.”

The cloaked man’s gaze returned to Hordak as she indicated him. His blood red eyes fell upon the fuchsia First Ones crystal set into his metal collar, widening.

“Husband…,” he uttered under his breath.

“Yes, my husband,” Entrapta reconfirmed patiently. “Evidently, you are familiar with him from his previous reputation.” The cloaked man looked back at her as she calmly continued. “But I assure you that he and the Horde have been through a great deal of change in recent years. Horde Prime has been banished and the Horde no longer pursues an agenda of galactic conquest.”

“Horde Prime…is gone?” the cloaked man uttered in disbelief.

Coming forward, Hordak reached up to his head and pulled down his burgundy hood, allowing strands of his dark blue hair to fall over his white forehead. He stood imposingly beside Entrapta, their fuchsia and sapphire First Ones crystals glowing in unison from their collars.

“We have been the Lord and Lady of the Horde since the fall of Prime seven years ago,” Hordak informed sternly, glaring at the cloaked man. “Under our leadership, the Horde has become an empire of scientific development and exploration, seeking to improve our technology and advance our knowledge and understanding of the universe.”

Entrapta leaned forward slightly, attempting to peer inquisitively under the cloaked man’s shadowy hood. He lowered his head to the ground to avoid her direct gaze.

“And who might you be, Sir?” she inquired gently.

The cloaked man was unresponsive until Entrapta shifted closer to him. He suddenly backed away from her.

“No, no! Don’t come any closer!” he hissed.

Entrapta paused in her movement, looking at him puzzled.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” she reassured. “We won’t harm you if you don’t attempt to harm us.”

The cloaked man backed into a large tree trunk. His bony hand rose to his hood and pulled it tighter over his head. He turned sideways, pressing himself against the tree as if to further conceal himself.

“Don’t look at me…” His voice was barely audible.

Entrapta tilted her head at him, a frown creasing her brow. “Why not? What’s wrong with you?” She ventured forward another step.

“Stay back!” he hissed again.

Entrapta did not heed him. Concern entered her voice: “Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?”

“I mustn’t-” he began desperately.

“Let me take a look at you,” she insisted, a tendril of her long lilac and cerise hair reaching for him.

“No!”

His protest was in vain as Entrapta’s hair tendril slid to the back of his hood and tugged it down.

As the hood fell back, both Hordak and Entrapta’s eyes widened.

Within a bandaged face, sunken blood red eyes stared out at them from hollowed sockets. In place of a nose, the outline of an exposed nasal cavity was visible through the worn bandages. Gaps in the bandages revealed flesh that was torn and rotting. And a mouth that lacked lips and bared gumless teeth gaped.

Disfigured and grotesque, it was a face of death.

With a grunt, the hood was hastily drawn back up, re-concealing the hideous sight. The cloaked man swiftly turned his back to his speechless company. His large, bony hand shot out to press into the tree before him. His long fingers dug harshly into the bark.

“Mustn’t be seen…Mustn’t be seen…,” he repeated to himself.

Entrapta slowly approached the hunched form of the cloaked man.

“You were on Etheria…weren’t you?” she said quietly. “You knew Queen Angella of Bright Moon…”

The cloaked man kept his back to her, but his hooded head lowered subtly.

Entrapta’s voice was a whisper: “Keldor…”

Silence descended as the name she had spoken hung in the air.

At last, a bitter, raspy voice emerged from the cloaked man:

“Keldor is dead…”

A tendril of Entrapta’s hair reached tentatively for him. 

“Queen Angella was my mother…,” she said slowly. “And you’re…my father…aren’t you?”

Her tendril of hair fell softly upon his shoulder. He did not move.

“You should not have found me…,” he uttered. “I have failed…in every endeavour…I have failed everyone…”

“Not everyone…”

Hordak walked forward as he spoke. The cloaked man turned his hooded head to look over his shoulder at him. Blood red and vibrant red eyes met once again.

“You transported me to Etheria with you long ago,” Hordak intoned. “It is thanks to you that I found liberation from Horde Prime…and that your daughter entered my life.”

He paused as his eyes found Entrapta’s. A small, fond smile formed on his lips which was reflected on hers. Their fingers drifted together and he took hold of her hand, lifting it up to his lips and planting a kiss upon her gloved fingers. She gazed at him adoringly in return.

“I…owe you a debt of gratitude,” he said slowly as he released his wife’s hand and returned his gaze to the cloaked man.

A tendril of Entrapta’s hair curled around Hordak’s arm and his voice softened:

“I was once wisely told by my wife that everyone needs help sometimes.”

His fingers closed over her tendril of hair as it slid around his hand and entwined with his fingers.

“We have resources and technology that may be of assistance in healing you,” he informed. “We could help you.”

The cloaked man turned fully to face Hordak.

“Help…me?” he rasped doubtfully.

Another of Entrapta’s hair tendrils reached for the cloaked man’s wrist, wrapping gently around it. He turned his blood red gaze to her.

“We have so much to catch up on…Dad…,” she said with growing eagerness. “Etheria, Eternia, our discoveries, our research…Imagine all the history and science we could share! And we could even introduce you to our latest projects!”

Her magenta eyes fell to her swollen belly and she laid a gloved hand over it. A soft smile spread across her lips as it did on Hordak’s. Their linked hand and hair squeezed one another.

“Project Hector here is in development,” she informed fondly, gazing down at her protruding belly. “And Project Estra’s construction is progressing nicely back in our labs.” Her magenta eyes sparkled with excitement as she spoke. “They’re our greatest scientific achievements yet! You should definitely see them!”

Slowly, Hordak lifted his dull blue hand to the cloaked man.

“Come with us, Keldor,” he invited. “I believe there is much we can offer one another.”

The blood red eyes within the dark purple hood lowered to the extended alien hand, taking in its dull blue skin and hooked claws. A bony, honey-hued hand emerged from the dark purple cloak to reach for it. Another bony hand reached up for the hood, pulling it away from the head it covered.

“Yes…I believe there is,” the bandaged, hollowed face of death rasped.

**End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As lovely as it was to see Hordak and Entrapta reunited on Etheria in the Season 5 finale of the show, I always felt that they were never really intended to be in the same space with the other princesses. I always preferred the idea of them being separated from Etheria, ending up elsewhere in the universe and doing their own thing. From a MOTU perspective, it would be a way to bring Hordak into contact with Skeletor and Eternia eventaully. Plus, they could be their villainous selves and just wreak havoc on the wider universe with their mad science.
> 
> Keldor. He was never intended to be a starring character in this fic, but I always kept him in the background. I've got ideas for how his relationship with Hordak and Entrapta develops in future. Not sure if I'll ever get round to writing any of it. It's enough to make a whole saga out of if I wanted. Hordak and Entrapta's little 'projects' would be important in future too. I've got interesting ideas for their creation is all I'll say for now.
> 
> I'm taking a break from this AU for now though. I'm currently working on a shorter post-Season 5 fic and a theory on an original storyline that I believe the show might have developed from. I'll likely be posting these up in the weeks to come, so look out for them!
> 
> Thank you again readers for joining me on this journey. As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts in comments. And if you have any questions, post them as well and I'll try to answer them.
> 
> Keep yourselves safe and well, folks. And hopefully, I'll see some of you again in my future posts!


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